The Lady of Slytherin-Dark Beginnings
by Nemesis13
Summary: Lillith Potter was denied the most basic of human decencies, when she was violated by her 'Uncle' at the age of six the soul shard of the one who murdered her parents offered her a way out. Appearing before Severus Snape bleeding and broken she is raised to be brutally pragmatic, viciously opportunistic, and violently protective of those she loves by the Black Sisters. Dad!Snape
1. Chapter 1- Dark Begininngs

_**Author Note-So one of my best friends has a Snape fixation and a dark mind, I have a fem!Harry that I adore and love finding new starting points for her, so here we are. This isn't like any of my other stories, this is (M) for rape, murder, horror, and general unpleasantness, The Lady of Slytherin follows in her Daddy Snape's trail and it will bring a new world order that no one expected. Warnings include, mentions of rape, racism, bigotry, domestic abuse, torture, murder, and vengeance. **_

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><p><strong>To new readers, what to expect: Supportive and deliciously sarcastic Daddy Snape, amused and delightfully vindictive Uncles Sirius and Remus, Crazy (capital C) mentor Aunt Bellatrix, loving Aunt Andromeda, and endearingly scheming Aunt Narcissa. Emphasis throughout will be that just because it's dark doesn't make it evil, just because it's light doesn't make it good, nothing is what it seems and what appeared to be a defined path to follow soon unravels in the presence of a powerful and jaded little girl.<strong>

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><p>A small girl spasmed in the throws of agony inside the cupboard beneath the stairs of 4 Privet Drive Surrey, England. She was six year old Lillith Dorea Potter, she'd only learned her name seven months ago on her first day at primary school, before then she'd only been known as 'girl' and 'freak'. Her relatives (they were NOT her family) had always treated her coldly, Dudley would attack her for no reason, Aunt Petunia would ignore her, and Vernon would...use her.<p>

Today had been the worst, Aunt Petunia had taken Dudley out for something of no importance so she was the only one in the house when a drunken Vernon had come home, it wasn't the first time this occurred. So she did as she always had and offered to fix him dinner, mix his drink, make him...feel better despite how much it disgusted her, but tonight something changed. He'd eyed her for a bit then without any warning the fat bastard had grabbed her by her long matted black hair and dragged her to his room screaming.

When the pathetic excuse for a human was finished he'd dragged her back down to her cupboard and thrown her bloody form into the dark space smashing her head against her pathetic little cot. She had laid there, violated in ways she couldn't explain for hours as the pain between her legs spread, her lifes blood pumping out in weak spurts on the dusty floor when she heard a voice,

"_Oh child what have those muggles done to you? You one of the elite, one of the High Ladies? Why are you even here you are a Potter and the descendant of a Black, you deserve so much more then to be the fuck toy of a bloody muggle."_ Lillith didn't know what to say to the strange voice in her head, she'd often heard that when you start responding to your own thoughts it was a sign of insanity. Considering the alternative she quite happily accepted the idea of being crazy and replied,

"I don't know what I did, it's always like this, my parents were worthless drunks and saddled my relatives with me when they died," the voice in her head felt as if it reeled back in disgust.

_"Your parents were not killed in a car accident dear child, they were killed by the greatest Dark Wizard in Great Britain, they themselves were the most feared Auror's in all her Majesty's Magical Government. Lily and James Potter were the best of the best, and were only ever defeated by the best, and in the end even they had the last laugh against him."_ Despite the blood drenching her ragged gown and her increasing weakness she couldn't help but ask,

"You...you knew parents, what were they like?" The dark voice in her head softened its tone,

_"Dear child as much as I wish to tell you I'm sorry to say you are not long for this world, what the bastard muggle did to you has destroyed your undeveloped body, soon you will die..."_ The girl much to the voices horror sighed in relief,

"Oh...good...the hurting stops when you die right?" The voice if it had a corporeal form would probably be licking parched lips in shock,

_"Aren't you afraid of death dear child?" _The girl laughed for the first time, it sounded like a painful gasp from her cracked and blood stained mouth,

"Afraid? Death's not scary, living is what's scary," The voice paused processing that, scanning the girls memories it honestly couldn't disagree with her which horrified the entity formally known as Tom Marvolo Riddle.

"_What if I were to offer you a way to live, to punish those that hurt you, to protect those you loved, and to become the strongest witch ever?"_ She was silent for a moment then asked,

"Witch?" Ah, fair enough, these filthy muggles would have taught her nothing of her birthright, of her superiority to them in every way imaginable, Tom darkly reflected on what he had planned for the vermin.

_"Yes child, magical girls are called witches and magical boys are called wizards, you are a witch, an incredibly powerful witch who had her magic bound by a meddling old man who had no right to place you with these monsters. I know for a fact your mother and father wanted you to stay with either Sirius Black or Severus Snape, your godfather and your mothers best friend respectfully."_ The girl smiled as her heart began to beat its last,

"I'm magic? I have a godfather? A friend? I would have liked to have met them..." as her vision began to fog the voice reached a tendril of will towards her,

_"I'm not a nice person little one, I'm the one who caused your parents to die, but I never wished for a magical child to end up like this and I myself am terrified of oblivion, if you allow it I'll give you my power, my knowledge. You will live and become the strongest most feared witch of your day, or you may die in this cupboard, forgotten by all." _The girl sighed one last time as Death brought her into his embrace,

"Will I find people to love...and can I make sure they never feel _**this**_?" she spat out with flecks of blood, Tom mentally nodded,

"_I will be you, you will be me, and we'll never let those we care about fall this far, never again,"_ smiling happily the little girl said, "ok" just as her life ended. As a flash of light encompassed the broken body a dark smoke sprayed from the abused girls forehead and her savaged form underwent a rudimentary healing, suddenly the heart beat that had just stopped became stronger then ever and the bloodied child sat up.

Emerald eyes that once shown with dull lifelessness now glowed with an inner light of resolve and a hint of bitter hatred, standing she observed her surroundings then nodded slightly, yes she remembered all this. What was new was the revulsion, these bloody muggles, how dare they treat the Lady of _Slytherin_ like common chattel? Sneering she swept a hand at the locked door sending it crashing against the far wall. Stepping out she wandered the house casting unbreakable enchants on all the windows and magically locking all the doors, as she finished she took a single lit candle and tossed it on the pile of papers scattered on the floor.

Watching the flames spread she let a smile crawl across her bloodied face, once the sitting room was in a proper inferno she removed the unbreakable charm from a couple windows to let the glass break and allow the beautiful flames to breath. Stepping out onto the front stoop she cast a locking charm on the front door and grabbed a full milk bottle and the newspaper off the cold concrete. Looking at the date she realized it was a weekend and Petunia and Dudley were both in the house, taking a swig from the milk bottle she shrugged and walked away from the blazing cookie cutter house ignoring the desperate pounding on the front door.

As she turned to view her handiwork she couldn't help but smirk in appreciation, as far as impromptu pyres went this one would work, as people began to gather she heard the voice in her head speak one final time.

_"Severus begged for me to spare you and your mother when I went after you both, go to him now, knock on his door when he answers simply state, "Mum told me if I was ever in trouble to come to you Uncle Sev." That ought to play on the old heartstrings and get us to someone who will look after you properly"_ Smirking a bit she asked,

"Thanks for the tip, who were you my friend?" As the voice faded away it stated,

_"Call me Tom kiddo, take care of yourself,_" and with that the voice faded forever as it used its last bit of control over the girl to apprate her before the rundown home of Severus Snape. The man in question hated his home, he had only come back for the Easter Hols to get away from the little brats that had stayed behind, he felt no interest in watching over the brats when they were in his classroom forcing him to do so outside of it was laughable at best. As he brooded in his inherited home reading a book in the greasy firelight of a single candle he heard the crack of an apparation.

Slamming his tome shut the young Potions Master tossed it on his unmade bed and cracked the front door, what stood there perplexed him beyond words, there was a tiny slip of a girl wearing a filthy grey nightdress splattered with blood gasping lightly. Her dark hair was matted and caked in blood and filth her face stained with ash, she then looked upon him with bright vibrant emerald eyes and he felt his heart catch as she whimpered out,

"Uncle Sev...mum always said if I was to come to trouble to run to you or Padfo..." and with that her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Severus rushed forward and grabbed the battered child before she hit the unyielding ground. Staring down at Lily's daughter Severus let his mind wander, '_Too light, underfed, shows sign of horrible malnutrition and abuse, bruising indicates beating blood at her...oh Merlin..." _gritting his teeth in rage he let out a short scream before shaking his head. Realizing he had to get her help immediately he scooped the slight form in a bridal carry and apparated to Saint Mungo's, the nurse on duty took one look at his wild eyed shock and the horribly abused filth stained child in his arms and quickly jumped into action.

"Who is she and what is her relation to you?" Now on autopilot he replied,

"I believe she's my childhood friends daughter, Lillith Potter, she just appeared at my home begging for help," the nurse gasped looking at the bleeding bundle in his arms,

"The-Girl-Who-Lived?! Merlin save us...follow me healer Tonks will look to her immediately," Nodding Severus followed the nurse into a sterile white room occupied by a woman that looked disturbingly like Bellatrix, although her violet eyes were filled with a kind passion rather then manic energy and her hair was a beautiful chocolate brown rather then raven. The eldest Black sister snatched Lillith from his arms and placed her on the bed without word, vanishing the child's clothing Severus had to force down the urge to vomit as he saw the real damage imparted on the child. The healer growled viciously and glanced to the man who brought her in but cooled instantly when she saw the horror writ across his face,

"Please escort the gentleman to the waiting room nurse, this is going to be an all nighter," not resisting the pull Severus allowed himself to be guided to one of the hospitals uncomfortable chairs, he stared down at his blood stained hands and for the first time since Lily's death he wept.

"What have they done to you little one?" He sobbed out, after a while he felt his sorrow harden into anger, no matter what came of this, if the girl survived he would protect her, she was the only piece of Lily left in this world and she would need protection, he'd failed the mother, he would not fail the daughter. His resolve set Severus waited on pins and needles, fully expecting the worst and praying for the first time in his life for the best. He wasn't sure when he'd fallen asleep, but when the nurse woke him he was sore in all the wrong places, she gave him a sad smile as she said,

"You're little friends going to make it, Andromeda is the best we have and she was able to repair all the damage, we need your help though, when we tried to look up the child's guardians nothing appeared, when we contacted the ministry we were informed the Potter will had been sealed by the Supreme Mugwomp. The only copy the hospital can access is from Gringotts and only those listed in the will can access it and execute it, you're on the will Mr. Snape, would you go so we can help the girl?" Gritting his teeth and holding back a sneer the young man nodded briskly, damned meddling old man, checking in on Lillith and seeing her sleeping soundly he made for the appration zone in the lobby and appeared before Gringotts.

Sweeping up the stairs as his cloak billowed behind him he was met in the lobby by a very distraught looking goblin,

"Thank fortune, the only people left alive that can execute this will are you and Mr. Sirius Black, but seeing as he never recieved a trial and was thrown in Azkaban and Headmaster Dumbledore monitors your mail we thought it would never be heard." Severus black eyes bugged out at that, he may despise Black with every fiber of his being but never being tried?! He was the bloody heir to the Black lordship for Merlin's sake! Shaking his head the second bit finally hit him, the headmaster had been rifling through his post...he wasn't surprised. Growling a bit he asked,

"What do you need me for...sir?" He tagged the last bit on due to Lily's rantings but it seemed to please the diminutive creature,

"Well, we've been waiting to read the Lady of Slytherin's holdings from her parents will for nearly five years, but everytime we tried to bring it out in the open Albus Dumbledore slammed it back down, with you here he has no chance to interfere." Pausing trying to process what he just heard Severus slowly spoke,

"The, the Lady of Slytherin?" Nodding quickly the goblin motioned him forward to a private room,

"It's her most prestigious title after all, the Lady Lillith Dorea Potter-Peverell-Slytherin has been denied her birthright since the day her parents had been murdered, since you're listed on the will as a guardian I can freely tell you she inherited the Potter and Peverell titles from her father and the Slytherin from her mother. With the death of the last Heir of Slytherin (who never claimed his lordship) she is next in line, and we have much to talk about, and since its _YOU_ here we can begin the process of her taking her titles." Severus shook his head for what felt like the thousandth time today,

"Why because I'm here?" The goblin looked surprised before he replied,

"Well Mr. Snape, I don't mean to alarm you but you're Lillith's only remaining legal guardian, we've been trying to get a hold of you since November 1st 1981 to take custody of your charge," Snape felt his jaw drop as the implications hit him. Slamming his mouth shut the goblin began to shift uncomfortably as the mans previously icy black eyes began to glow in rage,

"Tell. Me. Everything."


	2. Chapter 2- Plots and Revelations

_**So just letting you all know there will be sporadic updates to this story, it takes quite a bit of heavy metal to get me into the mood to write these darker stories so take what you can when you get it. I'm setting up Lillith's support system of adults this and next chapter, after that we'll be jumping to right before and into the first year of Hogwarts, writing the Lilly/Tom mentor relationship is so much fun so there will probably be another update soon.**_

_**Oh, and edited the last chapter a bit, nothing major just a bunch of typos and one minor ret-con, anywho, enjoy and review!**_

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><p>Severus sat in a chair just outside of Lillith's hospital room mulling over what the goblins had enlightened him to, Lily Potter nee Evans had in fact been the Heiress of Slytherin yet had never taken up the title. This in on itself made sense on a few levels, Lily was the kindest soul the Potions Master had ever met <em>but<em> she was also ruthlessly cunning and brutally efficient when it came to venting her fiery temper. Couple that with the obvious blood war and association that Slytherin had with the Dark Lord and well...it was no wonder she hid it, but the same could not be said for the daughter; for all intents and purposes Lillith won the title of Lady of Slytherin through birthright and conquest October 31, 1981 when the Dark Lord fell.

Sighing he ran his hands through his freshly cleaned hair then leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling tiles, that had been relatively easy to swallow compared to the other news, he, an occulamancy master had apparently been obliviated nearly a dozen times by someone far more powerful then he in the past five years. The goblins had been able to remove the majority of the blockage and every instance had been him leaving the castle to check on Lillith out of his sense of duty to the mother and his personal accounts at Gringots, the perpetrator could be only one Wizard and that opened oh so many more problems for the young man.

"How the rudding hell am I going to sneak this past the old meddler?" He whispered to himself sadly, he heard a quiet *Ahem* and glanced up to see the healer who had repaired the child, "Yes Healer Tonks?" She smiled weakly and sat next to him crossing her legs and tapping her chin gently with finger,

"I...don't know the full extent of what's happening here but if there's one thing my father managed to instill in me it is the ability to recognize a power play when I see one, is it safe to say whoever placed young Miss Potter with those muggles had no authority to do so?" He tensed a bit but realized in a crowded hospital he really had no way to deal with her, so he simply nodded and hoped for the best. The beautiful yet tired looking healer met his eyes as she continued,

"Since you're now registered as the childs guardian and I happened to notice her new title on the certificate you have two ways to handle this, complete subversion keeping the responsible party in the dark and hoping to stay in the shadows, or..." She let out a humorless laugh while shaking her head, "Or you can drop the entire thing into the public spotlight, every dirty little secret outside of...outside of what happened to that poor sweet girl last night. If you let the wizarding world know that all legal guardians for 'The-Girl-Who-Lived' had either been killed, imprisoned, incapacitated or as in your case kept in the dark so she could be housed with muggles that abused her well..."

Severus stared at her a moment looking a bit gobsmacked, the healer laughed at this shaking her head lightly, "Don't be so shocked, we might not have run in the same circles but you of all people should be aware of the fact I was born a Black, this sort of thing comes naturally to us..." Sighing again she stretched a bit like a cat then stood up, "If you need tutors for the girl well...she is a relative, I'm sure Bellatrix would be as willing as I to help teach her on how to act the proper pureblood once my sister hears about the title." She noticed Severus go rigid at that and waited for his response,

"Her...husband and I have a history, albeit one more cordial then I had with his associates..." At that she shrugged,

"As far as I'm concerned Remus Lupin is a good man, he has a respectable job as the Potter Estate steward and he's the only man I've ever met who can keep my sisters...eccentricities in check, she's told me his old schoolyard gang use to get into it with you often but you're going to have to decide who you want helping raise the girl." Meeting his black gaze with her violet she gave him a final sad smile, "Do you want the outcasts who know how things work and how to avoid becoming someones pawn, or those that would turn her into the next Lucius Malfoy?" With that the healer left him to check on her patient, leaving Severus to his thoughts.

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><p>Lillith was in what Tom's inherited memories called a dreamscape, it took the form of a massive library that went as far as the eye could see, she spun around a bit and felt a skirt twirl around as she did so. Pausing she looked down and gasped as she realized she was wearing an extravagant emerald green gown and it hugged her adult body in all the right places, panicking slightly she heard an amused laugh behind her. Turning quickly the most beautiful man she'd ever seen was leaning against a bookshelf, his cool dark eyes and coiffed coal black hair accentuating his fine chiseled features and relaxed indifference<p>

"Looking good killer eyes," with that he gestured before her and a floor length mirror appeared, Lillith approached it and gasped covering her mouth with both hands, the woman in the reflection was tall and lithe, raven hair pulled into an elaborate series of braids framing her heartshape face. There was just a touch of blush and eyeliner to complement her porcelain skin and glowing eyes, the dress matching their shade of green perfectly, "This is what you have to look forward to since you accepted my help, well worth it I think." Collecting herself she shrunk back down to the emaciated six year old with a middle aged mad geniuses vocabulary,

"Hello Tom, I thought you were gone?" He smirked at her and bowed offering his hand to her,

"If my Lady would follow me?" Grinning she took the offered hand happily and let him guide her through the library,

"I am what I'd call...a shade of who I was, the last bit of goodness left in the man once known as Tom Riddle, I'll remain here in the back of your mind guiding you along as you grow up, regulating what knowledge you can access so as not to raise anyone's suspicions, after all a little girl able to blow up a building with her mind would raise some suspicions." She nodded at this and looked up at him with a bit of adoration,

"We have to stay calm and be Slytherin about it right Tom?" Nodding with a smirk he continued,

"The number one rule of being a Slytherin is this, 'Don't Get Caught', that's why we burnt your relatives alive rather then butchering them as they deserved, no one is really going to suspect you of foul play but if you had shown up at Saint Mungo's coated head to toe in blood with the Dursley's left in fillet form well...it'd raise questions wouldn't it?" She nodded with a grim smirk curling up her lips,

"Would have been satisfying though," Tom nodded in agreement,

"Indeed my young apprentice, indeed, but there will be more enemies to vent our rage on later on, they seem to come out of the woodwork when their betters decide to take what is rightfully theirs." He stopped before a bookshelf with the number '6' emblazoned above it, "This is the knowledge I will impart on you until you reach the age of seven, it will progressively expand as you get older, the black volumes are my memories, the green will be yours." Nodding she was sad to see how few of the books were hers personally, she vowed then to give an equal contribution to what Tom gave her.

"I need to become stronger...so that never happens to me again..." Tom gave her a sad smile as he picked her up and held her in a firm hug,

"You young one may possibly be the only person I've ever felt even the idlest inkling of attachment for, we'll make you a force that no one will see coming and couldn't possibly stop even if they tried, you'll be the snake waiting in the grass, fangs dripping with venom ready to strike." She nuzzled her head into Tom's neck as the dreamscape began to fade,

"I can't wait..."

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><p>Andromeda stuck her head out of the doorway gesturing towards Severus, he stood and entered the room to see Lillith happily downing a plate of scrambled eggs, the little girl looked up at him with bright green eyes, Lily's eyes, and smiled Lily's smile, his heart ached at the sight.<p>

"Hello! Aunt Andi tells me you saved me! Thank you so much!" Pausing he looked towards the slightly bashful Andromeda Tonks,

"I uh...let it slip we're related, to say she was excited would be an understatement," rolling his eyes Severus approached the bed and pulled a chair up next to it, taking his seat he met the girls gaze and she stared back evenly.

"You little one, are disturbingly like your mother, lets just hope you don't take too much after your father, Merlin help us..." she gave him a queer look at that but then smiled again,

"Can you tell me about my parents Uncle Sev, please?" Trying and failing to suppress the smirk that flashed across his face he nodded and spent the next hour letting her know about her past, he was quite proud of himself for only calling James a dunderhead and git twice, it seemed to amuse her oddly enough so all was well there. Eventually her bright visage darkened and she nervously dragged a thin finger across her blankets, "Do I have to go back to the Dursley's?" Grimacing at that he decided to refrain telling her they were quite thoroughly dead for the time being and just give her the good news instead,

"No little one, I've been appointed your new guardian, and there are many people who want to be a part of your life who will help you adjust, if you pick things up as quickly as your mother and-" he begrudgingly admitted this next part "-your father we're going to have a hard time keeping up with you." She smiled at that,

"So...so are you my new dad?" His heart once again felt like it was failing, but a warm kernal of...something began to grow there, after a moment he realized with some shock that it was happiness, smiling sadly the former Potions Master of the fallen Dark Lord Voldemort replied,

"Yes, I'm going to be your new dad," she squealed and wrapped her arms around his neck, as he thought about how he was going to pull this off and be a good role model Lillith's thoughts went elsewhere

_'Tom is so unlucky he was born a boy, adults just can't stand up to a little girls cuteness, this is going to be ever so much fun!'_

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><p><em><strong>Yeah I hooked up Remus and Bellatrix, I'll explain next chapter but for now lets just say I wanted them in the story and this worked, please REVIEW!<strong>_

_**Author Edit-Reviewer was asking if this was a Lilly/Hermione story, honestly I think it might eventually swing into femslash if for no other reason then most of the rape victims I've met have a distinct disinclination to let men anywhere near them (One of the reasons I write the femslash thing so often is simply because of the shear amount of bi and lesbian friends I have, they're a very helpful sounding board). *Shrug* I will give you this bit, they will be best friends and it WILL cause some...issues for the House of Snakes and it will all play into Lilly and Tom's plans.**_


	3. Chapter 3- Meet the Lupin's

**So thought I should clarify something quickly, Lillith is speaking at a ridiculously advanced level for a seven year old and while it is noted by the adults in her life she is running into the same issue Harry did but it works in her benefit. Everyone sees Lily and James in her, and they were both scary intelligent, so they don't really ask questions as to why their daughter seems to be so ****perceptive, that and Severus is more then happy to raise a child he doesn't have to dumb himself down to be understood so he kinda turns a blind eye to it.**

**OH! And I forgot I played with the Black sisters ages to make them work in my story, Andi is the oldest, Bella is 4-5 years older then Remus and Cissy is still the youngest, it's nothing story breaking so all good =)**

**Now, that being said, nothing quite as dark as the last chapters in this one, mostly due to her being surrounded by responsible adults that _will_ rather notice her plotting to take over the world, Hogwarts is certainly going to be in for a surprise though, anyway as always REVIEW!**

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><p>Even with magic and the expert skills of Andromeda Tonks and her co-workers Lillith's rehabilitation to undo years of neglect and abuse was a time consuming process, it took more then four months for her to be given a clean bill of health and even then she was kept on a strict regime of nutrition and growth potions. Truth be told she rather felt like a house plant after each dosing but in the end it was worth it, she was healthier then she ever had been before and no longer carried physical signs of what she'd endured by the time the summer hols came along.<p>

Lilly hadn't been sitting idle in that time, she'd been grilling her 'Aunt Andi' and the other staff members on wizarding society and culture doing her best to learn how a Lady was supposed to act, Tom _may_ have been a vast repository of knowledge but he had no idea how a woman was suppose to behave...thank Morgana. Professor Snape visited her every weekend and would try to keep her mind off her abuse by regaling her with stories of her mothers youth, to be honest the part of her that was an attention starving six year old loved these discussions.

It wasn't until her new dad took her home to Spinner's End (which apparently he'd taken great care to clean up for her stay) that she finally asked what had been on her mind this entire time,

"Daddy...I...the man who made me stay with the Dursley's, why hasn't he tried to-" what did Tom call it again? Right, "-to 'meddle in matters he hasn't a right to?" Snape for all his shortcomings was actually ecstatic the child had such a ridiculous vocabulary, it meant he didn't have to dumb himself down to be understood like with his dunderhead students so he chose to ignore the abnormality.

"Well dear it's rather funny you mention that, I'd made a series of elaborate plans to either hide you from prying eyes or drop the entire story in the media and let the old goat deal with the damage control, but as always Albus keeps his own council and trusts himself more then anyone else."

Snape snorted at this while rolling his dark eyes, "He has a series of instruments tied to your blood to monitor you and the Dursley's home, apparently he trusts in them enough that he has not checked on you once in the past five years, and since they're apparently in working order he is none the wiser." Lillith hopped onto the small but comfy bed her dad had prepared for her and gave him a look of consternation,

"He's...he's, he doesn't know? I mean... huh..." Snape patted her on her head affectionately,

"Indeed, we'll be spending most of our summer holidays introducing you to several people who were friends of your parents or have a vested interest in keeping you out from under the old mans thumb, while school is in session the Tonks' family has volunteered to look after you. Ted tonks is a muggle-born solicitor and an amateur historian of both the magical and mundane worlds, my hopes are that being surrounded by both cultures you form your own opinions." She smiled and nodded at this,

"I want to be strong and powerful, so no one can hurt me again and that means no knowledge is wasted, I'll do as you suggest," he smiled at her as he then began to pace about,

"Now if only my students would just get that through their thick skulls I'd actually enjoy my job, the day after your birthday I'll be taking you to meet your Aunt Andi's sister Bellatrix and her husband Remus Lupin..." a look of distaste crossed his face but he schooled it quickly, "Bellatrix is...not all there but she's a genius when it comes to occulamancy and spell crafting, she also dabbles in enchanting so she'll make a fine tutor, she and Andi will be teaching you about Pure-Blood society as well." Lillith cocked her head to the side, Tom had very little knowledge of Bellatrix Lupin nee Black so she had to find out for herself,

"Daddy why is she ummm...'not all there?' as you put it?" Snape grimaced as he thought how to put this to a disturbingly intelligent child that just went through the same thing the woman in question had,

"Bella...the Blacks are a very dark family, well for the most part, and they follow the old ways, arranged marriages, old gods, so on and so forth, and so Andromeda Black was put into an arranged marriage to the LeStrange family. She pulled a runner, she actually cursed the words "Bugger Off" into her mothers parlor wall if rumors are to be believed," Lilly giggled at that, she just spent four months with the woman at her bedside, she completely believed it.

Snape cleared his throat and continued, "The contract then fell to Bellatrix who was if anything _more_ wild and independent then her sister, so her father in his infinite wisdom used ancient (and very illegal) blood runes to ensure her compliance, are you absorbing all this child?" Lilly sat there a moment processing it all through her Tom filter then nodded for him to continue, "The thing is the LeStrange boys were brutes, plain and simple, and one evening they decided to...*sigh*...'test the goods' as it were. Lillith's face curled up into a vicious scowl and her eyes glowed faintly,

"Bastards..." picking her up off the bed the Potions Master sat on it himself placing her on a knee to give her a hug,

"Quite, the blood runes were to enforce that the wife to be remains...pure before marriage, even if the deed was done with her betrothed, one of the side effects of violating the contract was sadly mental damage... the LeStrange's got far enough along to hurt her mind but not far enough to drive her completely mad due to one Remus Lupin."

Lillith _and_ Tom were both listening with rapt attention now, "Remus was only a second year and they seventh's but he had one thing they did not...the knowledge that he was a gentleman and a werewolf." She gasped at that, a werewolf, at Hogwarts?! Was the headmaster insane? Snape continued unabated, "If you're curious what a cricket bat does to a teenagers skull when swung by an enraged adolescent lyconthrope I suggest you ask the Lupin's in a week, suffice it to say the LeStrange's were expelled and Bella's marriage contract was dissolved."

"What happened then?" She asked with a bit of apprehension, he smiled down at her rocking her a bit,

"Not much for quite some time, after our class graduated Lupin ran into Bella at a pub, apparently she'd been disowned by the family because she was seen as "Used" by the other pureblood families and was working a dead end ministry job while she freelanced spell creation, they hit it off, got drunk, somehow ended up in Paris married a week later neither aware how they ended up there. That's when your father offered Lupin the job as your families Steward, from what I heard from your mother he had to have the job forced on him, he does not like handouts." Lillith was a mix of amused, sad, and angry at all this,

"If he's my family steward why had he never come to visit me, to make sure I was safe?" Snape sighed at that one, she wasn't going to like this a single bit.

"Because no one but Albus knew were you were being kept ostensibly for your safety, I checked the remains of the Dursley home to gather the spent ward stones and had them checked, anti-dark creature and owl repelling wards were just two of the many 'protections' preventing anyone from finding you." Lilly sighed and began knocking her head against his arm in aggravation,

"Meddling old man...daddy I'm ready for bed..." smiling he placed her in the bed and tucked her in, he bade her good night and blew out the candles, gently closing her door he had one pleasant thought before retiring for the evening himself, there would be at least one powerful child that old bastard would never be able to sway to his side with his grandfatherly act.

A week later Lillith was thrown a small birthday party with her dad and the Tonks family where she (and Tom sadly enough) received her first presents ever, dad got her an apprentice potion makers kit, the Tonks daughter 'Dora (Don't you DARE call me Nymphadora) got her a training broom, and the elder Tonk's gave her a pair of history books; the books practically had her salivating, knowledge was power and power kept you safe.

After an off key rendition of 'Happy Birthday' Lilly got her first taste of cake, (chocolate!) and after playing with 'Dora most of the afternoon she decided this might be her best day ever. It was a real toss up between this lovely family moment and burning the Dursley's to death, her thoughts on this made Tom laugh, a lot. After a day of sweets, games of broom tag, and being dotted on by people who actually cared about her Lillith fell into a deep sleep burrowed into her down comforter, she'd plan on world domination tomorrow, today she was just happy to be a seven year old little girl who felt loved for the first time ever.

The next day found her and her dad apparating to a rather largish home in southern Ireland, apparently one of Mrs. Lupin's many side jobs was terrorizing the local banshees for the constabulary and the location worked out for both her and her husband. As they approached the front door Snape opened it without knocking and escorted his daughter inside, they were hit with a miasma of odors, the faint smell of dog, baked goods, and raw potions being the most prevalent, after a moment of silence they heard a man yelling from the basement.

"Bella love, have you seen the guinea pigs? I need to test this new batch of potions for the dueling association," after a moment another voice yelled back in a melodic sing song voice,

"Dear you know it's against etiquette to use pots in a duel," there was a pause and the man replied sounding slightly agitated,

"Honey what did you do with the guinea pigs?" the woman yelled back happily,

"I was bored on the last full moon so I released them in your cage to see if they could evade you!" The man who Lillith could only assume was Remus sighed before replying,

"Are there any left alive?" Bella cackled a bit then said,

"Oh just one, I named him Julian but you can't use him for experiments he's now the king of all Guinea pigs, happens when you survive a werewolf," there was the sound of feet beating up a flight of stairs and they could more clearly hear him as he calmly responded,

"Right...well looks like I"m going to the pet store, probably have to go to Belfast to avoid suspicion...that or I could obliviate the locals...hmmm..." Lilly was doing her best to keep her giggling in check as she met her dads eyes, the look he gave her was that of someone suffering constant torment. So when the foyer door was opened by a well dressed gentleman he stopped in surprise seeing a little girl giggling into her hands and Severus Snape staring down at her with a long suffering look on his face, "Li-Lilly!" The girl stopped laughing and looked up at him, she walked forward and curtsied,

"Hello Mr. Lupin, I am the Lady Lillith Potter, I'm pleased to meet you!" Remus Lupin froze as he looked down at the smiling child, a perfect mixture of Lily and James, he couldn't help himself he scooped her into a hug and began swinging her around causing her to squeal in delight.

"I'm so so so sorry Lilly! I tried to find you but that old bastard kept rambling on about how having a wife from a dark family and being a werewolf meant you weren't safe around me. I'm so sorry, so so sorry!" Lilly threw her arms around his neck (tactfully ignoring Tom's grumbling about public displays of affection) and whispered,

"It's all right Moony, I'm safe now and that's all that matters," releasing her hug Remus held her at arms length a moment meeting her eyes, he then laughed and pulled her into his embrace once more before placing her on the ground.

"Child you have no idea how much I've missed you," with that he turned to Severus and offered a slight bow,

"I'm glad to see you are in good health Potions Master, how have you been?" Snape thankfully had decided tact was in order since he wanted his daughter to at least attempt to avoid his own biases,

"Lupin, I've been doing well all things considered, I'd much prefer not wasting my time teaching but there is little one can do about such things," Lilly chirped in with,

"He has to deal with dunderheaded imbeciles all day long, but he tries to not let it get him down!" Snape threw her a betrayed look that she ignored as Lupin laughed again,

"Sounds about right, anyway a belated happy birthday is in order for you young lady, and I do have a gift for you but it can wait till after you meet Bella, shall we?" She nodded still smiling and took his hand in hers while her dad took her other and guided her down the halls, "This manor was actually owned by a self proclaimed Dark Lord about two hundred years ago, his ghost was haunting it since his death so we got a rather good deal on it." Severus spoke up at that,

"What happened to him? The ghost that is, I'm sure you remember the rather...prolific amount of spectres that inhabit Hogwarts, I'm aware of how difficult they are to get rid of." Remus snorted at that as they approached another door,

"Bella stalked it day and night taunting it with his own failed history and French pop songs, he moved on about a week later," Lilly and Tom were both impressed by this and couldn't wait to meet the woman who could drive the dead around the bend, Snape just rolled his eyes while muttering "Of course." As they were being led through the halls Tom spoke up,

_"Child I'm quite surprised you allowed that man to touch you after what you went through."_ She could hear the question in his tone so she replied with,

_"I can feel his magic its...I think I remember him, there's just something in my heart telling me I can trust him," _Tom snorted at that,

_"Trust a werewolf...all right then, but if you end up catching lyconthropy from him I don't want to hear any whinging," _she had to hold back a snort at that one,

"_Yes Tom because it's spread like the common cold," _She could sense his amusement as he cut back with,

"_You're lucky you're going to end up very cute or I wouldn't put up with the cheek," _before she could respond the group ended up in a large room filled with all sorts of magical artefakts, animal tanks, and large tomes, sitting at the massive table in the center was a woman surrounded by stacks of parchment. The floor around the wavy haired ravenette was covered in crumpled parchments and broken quills, she was giggling to herself as she was scratching complex formula's out as she spun a muggle king chess piece in her off hand. All told she seemed a bit batty, and for some reason that really intrigued Lillith so she was the first to speak up,

"Hello ma'am," the woman stopped writing and spun around, Lilly was shocked to see how much the woman resembled Aunt Andi, a mad grin spread across her face as she hopped off her stool and approached the group,

"Remus you didn't tell me we had guests, bad wolf no biscuits for you! Hello dear I'm' Bellatrix but you may call me Bella," Remus much to Lilly's amusement actually let out a quiet whine,

"I'm the one who baked them dear!" She ignored him and leaned down to stare directly into Lillith's emerald eyes, her lilac gaze seemed to spark with manic power just beneath the surface,

"You must be Lillith...hehe...I can see a bit of the Black madness in you little one, we're going to have ever so much fun!" With that she abruptly broke the gaze and scooped the small girl up and placed her on the table next to her stool, taking her seat Bella began pointing things out on the parchments, "I'm currently playing with some arithmatic equations to create an improved explosion curse, _bombarda_ is nice but I'd really like to cause as much collateral damage as possible." Lilly eyed the grinning woman cautiously, glanced down at her work she then picked up a quill, she quickly corrected the only glaring error she and Tom could find and placed the quill back down, Bella eyed her in shock and the two men crowded beside her to see what the seven year old had done. Lillith shrugged and spoke for the first time,

"I like math, and explosions, did I do well?" The adults exchanged looks then Bella broke out into a cackle that had Tom nodding in approval and grumbling about how he wished her idiot family hadn't disowned her when he was the Dark Lord, oh well Lilly could use her at least.

"Remus can we keep her please? And where are those biscuits the child is nothing but skin and bones! Now dear what do you think about this curse, I've got this ongoing theory that the more evil a wizard is the more inherently flammable they are, so-" Remus and Severus exchanged glances and walked into the kitchen leaving Bellatrix to ramble at the wide eyed grinning girl. As Remus began preparing a pot of tea Severus finally spoke up,

"Do you ever get the feeling that perhaps you've done something irrevocably stupid and there is no way to undo the damage?" Both men turned to the door as they heard mirrored cackling from Bella's lab, they sighed as one and Remus let out a small chuckle,

"Yes, but on the plus side at least we're here to give them adult supervision...Severus I wanted to thank you, thank you for taking her in, for doing what _I_ should have been doing this entire time, I don't think I can ever repay you for it." The professor made a concentrated effort to keep back his intended sneer, instead he turned around and began taking teacups down from the cabinet and placing them on a tray that the werewolf handed him,

"Lupin, we've had a rocky relationship since we graduated, and since you've hooked up with Bella I've had to learn to put the past behind me for Narcissa's sake, Merlin knows Lucius would get an earful if I started anything with you at get togethers. That being said, you failed her horribly, and in the same breath you didn't, yes you should have been there for her, but it was Dumbledore and the ministries laws that kept you away so...don't blame yourself." That had taken a lot for the professor to admit, he turned to meet Lupin's golden eyes and the scarred young man nodded in understanding and said no more on the subject, taking the baking sheet of ginger newts in hand he grabbed a plate and transferred them. Tea and biscuits now in order the pair re-entered the now eerily silent lab, cracking the door open they saw a wide eyed Bella staring at the far corner of the room were the witch stored most of the animals used for potions ingredients.

The smirk that kept trying to curl up her face took as she pointed to the little girl holding of all bloody things an emberscale, one of the most dangerous and venomous magical snakes in the world, their ability to breath fire like their distant dragon cousins made them a hassle to take care of unfortunately their venom had hundreds of uses. This all ran through Snape's head as he realized his daughter was hissing to the snake and it was responding, eventually she _and_ the emberscale turned to face the adults,

"You have such a lovely pet Aunt Bella, she really likes you but wanted to know if you could give her live food now and then, it's apparently more satisfying fighting for her meal." She looked back and forth between the gobsmacked adults and let her eyebrows raise in confusion, "What?" Bellatrix, apparently due to operating somewhere on the same wavelength as the girl recovered first,

"That's lovely dear I'll have to get her some mice then, could you put her back in her tank for the time being, as much as I like burning things I rather like my house," smiling Lilly nodded and placed the snake down and began stroking its head, after a few moments the reptile curled in on itself and went to sleep. Skipping back to the trio of adults she snatched up one of the ginger newts and clamored back onto Bella's table. Lupin and Snape both shared a terrified look before composing themselves, Tom was laughing a bit sadistically,

_"Girl you are going to be trouble,"_ inwardly grinning she nodded a bit,

"_I am the Lady of Slytherin after all, they shouldn't be too surprised, I wonder if I can convince them to get me a snake familiar," _Tom waved the comment off,

_"We have a twenty meter long basilisk under Hogwarts do recall," _She rolled her eyes at that,

_"I'd like a familiar that I can carry around with me and won't you know...kill everyone that looks at it,"_ Tom paused for a moment then asked,

_"What's the fun in that?" _Before she could respond the adults gathered around her and did their best to ignore what they just saw, well the men did, Bella thought it was great, after a time Remus left and soon returned with a wrapped package.

"Happy Birthday Lillith, I've been holding onto these for years in hopes I could give them to you some day," she gently tore the paper off the largish wood box, the words 'Lily Evans' were engraved in calligraphy on the lid, gasping she flicked the clasps and opened it. Inside was a worn looking leather bound book, several pictures and pieces of jewlary, and-

"Lily's wand!" Severus stated wide eyed, Lillith stared at it in awe as Remus nodded looking a bit pleased with himself,

"They tried to confiscate it as a "national treasure" if you can believe that, so I transfigured a stick into a look alike and knicked the real thing, pick it up dear, see if it likes you," she glanced up at her dad who looked mildly amused that the former prefect had done something so audacious and nodded to her. Picking up the wand she flicked her wrist and golden sparks went flying about the room, Severus and Remus both smiled and Bella cackled while clapping her hands, staring at the thin piece of wood with a dreamy smile Lilly thought out,

_"And now we have an unregistered wand Tom, whatever shall we do next?" _Laughter was his only response, she thanked the Lupin's profusely and began to riffle through the other odds and ends, the book was blood sealed so Lilly shrugged and pricked her thumb on the recessed spike, opening it she realized that it was her mothers diary. No, journal, this wasn't filled with superfluous ramblings of an adolescent girl, these were the musings and ideas of a genius bordering on madness, she vaguely wondered if her mum would have gotten along with Bella.

Tuning out the adults she skimmed through last entries and stopped when she found something unfamiliar, Tom had kept his word and the majority of his knowledge was held from her for the time being so she'd have to rely on her caretakers,

"Dad, Aunt Bella, Uncle Moony, what's the Fidelus Charm?" The three froze and looked at the girl with sadness and a bit of underlying anger, Moony responded for the group,

"The Fidelus Charm is a very powerful protection spell, when placed on a persons home no one can find it unless the secret keeper tells someone about it." She nodded a bit then scrunched her nose in disgust,

"So since my parents are dead, our secret keeper betrayed us?" Moony nodded sadly,

"Yes dear, they were betrayed by a good friend, someone they didn't think would ever turn on them, on you." She sighed closing the journal,

"I see...so what happened to Peter Pettigrew, did he get arrested?" The adults froze and looked at her in confusion, Bellatrix quirked an eyebrow and asked,

"What for dear?" Now honestly confused and getting no help from Tom she pointed down at the journal,

"For betraying my parents, mum wrote that Peter Pettigrew was my parents secret keeper and the binding ceremony was performed by Albus Dumbledore," Dead silence was all that met her, she huffed a bit at their wide eyed gaping, bloody adults...

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><p><strong>Did I ever mention how much I love writing Bellatrix? She's a little less insane then the one from 'Another Day in the Life of' but I thought I gave a fairly good explanation as to how she went nuts and how she hooked up with Moony. Oh and Narcissa keeps in contact with Bellatrix since she and Lucius both find it ridiculous that she had been kicked from the Black family for something she didn't have any control over, this eventually lead to a reconciliation with Andromeda and the wizarding world shook with horror at the reunification of the Black sisters.<strong>

**Also I'm not going to touch off on it until much later but Remus has been kinda...corrupted? Yeah we'll go with mildly corrupted living with Bellatrix so things that would set off canon Moony don't really phase him that much (I.E. the use of Dark Arts outside of the unforgivables) and since he's a respected member of society thanks to the Potter's his furry little problem is rarely brought up.**

**Anyway, rambling, hope you enjoyed and please REVIEW!**


	4. Chapter 4- A Sirius Matter

_**So this chapter introduces one of my all time favorite characters to write, now Sirius is not quite like he was in canon, he'd only been in Azkaban five years and while it took its toll he's still far more of a wily smartarse since he has more of grip on reality, also making him aware of his Lordship for expediencies sake. Now, that being said if this doesn't seem to work for you folks let me know, I think there will be one more chapter before Hogwarts to do some world building.**_

_**QUESTION-Do you guys want the Diagon Alley treatment or not? Personally I'm more inclined to just have her get Hedwig and her wand and gloss over the rest of it since I intend for her to meet Hermione in the bookstore, which will give you my lovely readers my take on the Purebloods and why they're so against muggle-borns. My hope is to turn Hermione into the poster child of adapting to the culture you're entering and influencing needed changes down the line not completely subverting it like Dumbles wants. Anywho, hope you all enjoy, as always REVIEW!**_

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><p><strong>A Sirius Matter<strong>

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><p>Since the day he'd been rather brusquely tossed into the Wizard Prison of Azkaban Sirius Black had barely kept his once sharp, and admittedly somewhat warped mind from collapsing in on itself while under the near constant supervision of the foul creatures known as Dementors. A handful of things kept him sane'ish, first the knowledge that he was in fact innocent, that he needed to somehow escape and protect his goddaughter Lillith, that the real traitor was still out there as a threat to said goddaughter, and that he hadn't introduced Barty Crouch to some rather well deserved Black justice yet.<p>

One thing he could actively do though while he rotted away biding his time was torture his cell mates, as the saying goes you can take the Auror out of the corps but you can't take the corps out of the Auror, so as the Dementors finished their rounds for the day he shifted from his Grim form and cleared his throat.

"Ahem, gentlemen! Tonight's classical rendition is brought to you by my dearly deceased friend Lily Potter nee Evans, I hope you enjoy it as much as I did when she taught it to me! Ohhhhhhhh ten thousand bottles of butterbeer on the wall, ten thousand bottles of butterbeer! Take one down and pass it around, nine thousand nine hundred ninety nine bottles of butterbeer on the wall!" He kept this up for a few hours, eventually around the seven thousandth butterbeer the man in the cell across from him screamed,

"OH MERLIN I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!" And with that he charged headfirst into his cell wall, there was a sick thump as his skull was dashed upon the masonry then his body fell to the ground twitching, letting out several barks of laughter Sirius picked up his rusty shiv and scratched a new tally mark into the granite cell wall. Sometimes, it was the little things in life that kept you going, it certainly wasn't the food that's for sure,

"Could do with a bit of room service, eh Prongs?" The gaunt faced young man asked the ether as he sprawled out on his filthy sleeping mat, five years, five years he'd moldered in this hell on Earth for a crime he didn't commit. Well, misnomer there, he committed the greatest crime ever, he chose his lust for vengeance over the well being of his goddaughter, only the Morrigan knows where she was now. Thankfully self loathing was an amazing insulator against the Dementors just as his torturing the local Death Eaters was, with that cheery thought the new rounds began as the air around him darkened.

With the familiar feeling of frozen horror returning in the wake of the devils rejects Sirius prepared to shift back to Padfoot when suddenly the encroaching darkness paused, then retreated from whence it came. Intrigued the Marauder sat up from his rotting mat of straw listening silently, eventually he heard the click clack of heeled boots approaching, he recognized the gait but couldn't for the life of him match it to a person. Less then a minute later he felt his shaggy brows raise in confusion and a bit of mild amusement as he viewed the three women and their auror escort.

"Andi, Bella! How're my favorite cousins doing!? Oh and hello to you Minister Bagnold, incarcerate anyone without a trial recently? Perhaps a teashop owner, or a street sweeper? Certainly not a _Lord_, that'd be so...unprofessional wouldn't it?" Sirius gave the three women his most cavalier grin with that, the grey of his eyes taking on a malicious sheen of silver as he spat out his pleasantries. Andi for her part gave him a wane smile and Bella giggled, the Minister's gray consonance somehow became more stern then earlier, good on her he thought cheerfully,

"Black, you're up for review, new...evidence has come to light and it is my desire to get this cleared as soon as possible, you are to be escorted to the ministry immediately and once you are seen fit to stand trial you will be brought in front of a small tribunal." The Black of Blacks snorted at this as he rolled his tired eyes,

"And why would I agree to a small council with limited witnesses?" Bella snickered a bit as she leaned in completely oblivious to the stench wafting from her cousin as she whispered,

"So you are cleared and freed while Dumbledore is in summer recess, we have Lillith, all you have to do is play along and you can see your goddaughter." Letting out a bit of a canine whine Sirius stood up and brushed off his filthy prison rags,

"Well, ladies shall we?" And with that he was escorted out of Azkaban, he grinned at the morose Death Eaters through the bars of their cells as he walked past them head held high, "I solemnly swear I am up to no good," he whispered as his grin turned into a vengeful sneer. The small group reached the ferry to the mainland and Bellatrix, Morgana bless the crazy bint flicked a coin to the ferry man as they reached the opposite shore with a,

"Keep the change Charon, he won't be back," a shower, a meal, and a nap later he found himself in front of a small group of officials, foremost was the Minister of Magic and the new head of the DMLE, Amelia Bones of all people (he couldn't help himself when he winked at the redhead causing her to blush) and a somber looking Unspeakable that he had no desire to annoy. The man in question approached Sirius and dosed him with truth serum and so began the trial,

"Name,"

"Sirius Orian Black,"

"Were you the Potter's secret keeper,"

"No, James and I decided I was too obvious so we chose Peter Pettigrew, Lily wasn't amused, she never trusted him...smart girl."

"Who was your oath binder,?"

"Albus too many fucking names for his own good Dumbledore,"

"If proven innocent what will you do?"

"Make a life for my goddaughter that her parents wanted, and destroy all those that kept her from those that loved her." The unspeakable smirked and after applying the serum counter he nodded towards Bagnold who cleared her throat before speaking,

"Sirius Orian Black, Lord of the Most Ancient and Noble House of Black you are here cleared of all charges and are now a free man, you are free to press charges against the ministry as is your right as one of The Thirteen, what are your wishes?" The Grim animagus lifted his head his silver eyes glowing brightly,

"I simply wish to see my goddaughter, and for the traitor Pettigrew to burn," smirking the old woman nodded,

"So it is said, so mote it shall be." With that he was carted off to Saint Mungo's were he was put under a strict regime of potions that made him feel a bit like an over watered house plant, although he was willing to put up with it for the good food and clean sheets. And no Dementors, the no Dementors thing was rather lovely as well, so as he was downing another bowl of Jell-o (never let it be said that _all_ magicals were oblivious to the mundane world) on his third week of bed rest a small silhouette darkened his doorway.

Looking up he felt his heart seize when he saw the vibrant twin emeralds shining through a cascade of midnight black hair, the tiny angels face had a look of bemused contemplation on it as she observed the mans eating habits. She smiled in a way that made him know his life was going to be a living hell when she hit puberty, _'I'm going to have to buy more property to hide all the would be suitors bodies,'_ he thought with a sense of detachment. Being locked up for half a decade he hadn't had a chance to rebuild his occulamancy barriers so it was no surprise that the man standing behind the girl picked his thoughts up passively, so it was with a bit of shock that Severus Snape snorted in amusement as he met Black's startled eyes.

"Indeed, I've been finding myself thinking the same thing as of late, hello Lord Black, it's been some time," now an unprepared Sirius may have blown up, sneered out _Snivellus_ or otherwise acted a prat. Luckily for all involved his cousins and Moony had cornered him and made him aware of the current situation, so his response was something even he never thought would come about.

"That it has Potions Master, I must thank you for taking care of Lillith since I was rather incapable of doing so myself, I owe you one," to say that Severus was surprised would probably be an understatement, but the genuine civility seemed to make little Lillith's smile glow even more happily then before. Approaching the bed she looked up at the still somewhat scruffy young man and took the hand that wasn't cradling the bowl of Jell-o.

"Hello Godfather...or is it Dogfather?" Smiling a bit painfully he scooped the girl up and gave her a firm hug before placing her beside himself, handing her the bowl of gelatin she readily accepted it muttering ,"Mmm, blue, blue's my favorite." Chuckling he nodded a bit,

"Yeah mine too kiddo, ends up when you flirt with all the nurses you can milk them for what you want," being very ladylike she talked around the mouthful of Jell-O staining her mouth unknowingly looking adorable as she did so.

"What about the male nurses?" He rolled his eyes at that,

"Of course you'd ask that...Lily would too...and as for them well, they tend to avoid me, apparently women see a hurt dashing young man who needs nurtured back to health, the men see an unhinged psychopath." He shrugged a bit as he noticed Snape physically wince as he repressed a sneer before he replied,

"Well you're a Black so it is likely somewhere in the middle," Sirius just nodded in agreement as he stared at Lillith with haunted eyes, eventually he shook himself out of his reverie than turned back to his former nemesis.

"So how are we doing this?" Snape grabbed a chair and pulled it to the bedside then sat on it backwards resting his arms on its back,

"The plan is relatively simple but not so much that it's transparent, the newspapers are going to reveal your trial and innocence once you are healthy enough to make a public appearance where you will go into details about what happened that night. With your revelation about Pettigrew we're hoping a concerned citizen will apprehend him quickly, if anyone asks about-" he rolled his eyes with the next part, to Sirius amusement so did Lillith, "-'The Girl Who Lived' you'll say that after years in Azkaban the ministry has seen it fit to keep you under observation for the time being before giving you the clearance to see her."

Sirius frowned at this but it melted when he felt a tiny hand wrap itself around a few of his fingers and give them a squeeze, he huffed then nodded for Snape to continue, "Of course this is a lie, you'll be staying with Andromeda Tonks or the Wolf and the Nutter as will Lillith. The old goat for all his meticulous planning has finally bought into his own hype and thinks he can do no wrong, so he hasn't bothered checking up on her since she was dropped on the Dursley's doorstep." At the mention of her hated relatives Lillith's back went ramrod strait and the plastic fork in her grip snapped, Severus looked at her in concern and ran his hand through her hair a few times to calm her down, she didn't meet his eyes as she stared at the floor but she seemed to relax.

Sirius met Snape's dark gaze and mouthed 'That bad?' and the Potions Master shook his head and replied 'Worse,' grimacing the dog animagus motioned for him to continue if for no other reason than to distract the girl, "So with that all being said you obviously can't take custody of her without Dumbledore knowing she's out from under his thumb, we're actually taking bets on how far into her schooling it will take before he notices." At that Lillith finally perked up,

"Aunt Andi has five galleons on second year, Uncle Moony has twenty on first, Aunt Bella and Uncle Ted have twenty on third year, they don't have much faith in him," Sirius smirked at this,

"And you little one?" She grinned a bit displaying her beautifully blue stained teeth,

"Daddy and I have thirty on fourth year, we've already planned a campaign of misdirection, it should be fun!" Sirius winced at Snape's moniker but didn't comment on it,

"Well throw me down for the same, I have faith in James and Lily's daughter to befuddle an old man, so Lillith tell me about yourself, I've missed so much and I want to know everything I can," She smiled a bit shyly then nodded,

"Ok for starters please call me Lilly, now my favorite colors are green and violet, I hate pumpkin juice, flying is amazing, and-" this went on for a good twenty minutes and Sirius ate it up, if he were ever capable of casting a Patronus again the memory of his first meeting with his goddaughter would be more then enough to fuel it. Eventually Lilly was escorted off for her own checkup and the group exchanged goodbyes, Sirius spent the next two weeks in rehab and once cleared he'd ordered a tailor to come in and measure him for new robes, if he was going to have to embrace his Lordship he'd best look the part. So it was mid July when he finally made his first public appearance before a crowd of reporters, to say that his story came as a shock was an understatement, every magical paper the nation over stopped the presses in an effort to be the first to report on the unprecedented event.

As fate would have it a small somewhat popular but oftentimes ridiculed paper from Ottery St Catchpool hadn't been planning to publish that day due to the owners wife coming down with a severe case of wrackspurts, but with such a story she agreed that it would be best to put the disinfection off until tomorrow. So it was with this that found one William Weasley filling out mastery apprenticeship applications early in the morning, he was looking to get into the curse breaker business since he had a ridiculous affinity for runes and warding so he should have a few bites soon. After filling out the one for Gringott's he sent the owl off and stretched languidly, he loved the quiet, and while the Burrow would always be home he could not wait to get the hell out of there and find a flat of his own, sipping his lukewarm coffee he was startled to see the Lovegood's owl swoop into the room and drop a magazine before him.

The Quibbler was one of Bill's favorites, everyone thought the lot of Lovegood's were barmy but the careful observer realized most (not all but most) of the far out articles were actually political commentary wrapped up in a form that couldn't get them shut down by the ministry. So with a wry grin he picked it up and read the headline, nearly choking on his coffee as he did so, he read the series of articles one after the other, no where once was there mention of imaginary animals or the Rotfang Conspiracy. As the young man finished the paper his mother and siblings came downstairs, he was so intent on his own thoughts that he managed to completely tune out Molly's caterwauling, a feat that would earn him a medal in any other situation.

As Percy entered the room Bill jumped to his feet and whipped out his wand,

"STUPIFY!" He roared as the red stunner slammed into the rat riding on his shoulder sending it flying into the back wall, now if any other Weasley had done this there would have been complete pandemonium, but this was Bill, the calm, collected, easy going eldest brother who did his best to set an example for his siblings. So it was wide-eyed silence that met him as he prowled to the comatose rat and ran a few diagnostic spells on him, grunting in anger he transfigured a cage out of a breadbasket and cast an unbreakable charm on it before tossing the rodent inside.

He turned to his mother and smiled, "Sorry Mum, going to miss breakfast I need to get to the Ministry as soon as possible, may I use the Floo?" Molly nodded slowly a look of concern on her face, he just grinned and pointed to the discarded paper, "Might wanna read up, everything's about to change," and with that Bill Weasley walked out of the Burrow securing his families future for generations. Not a week later the news was out that the traitor, former recipient of the Order of Merlin First Class Peter Pettigrew had been apprehended by a teenager and was tried, convicted, and shipped off to Azkaban all in the same day.

Sirius for his part was giddy, he'd made no mention of Dumbledore at any point during his interviews and after his public statement of keeping away from his goddaughter for the time being the old man had made no effort to contact him, as far as the meddling headmaster was concerned all was well in the world. So when William and Arthur Weasley came to visit the Lupin Manor they were a bit nonplussed to be greeted by none other then Lillith Potter, the Girl-Who-Lived curtsied nervously unsure of these new arrivals, thankfully as always she had Tom to keep her safe,

_"Don't fret child the Weasley's were staunch supporters of the Light in the last war, they'll mean you no harm and they are guests of your godfather remember, just take it easy and look at their eyes, what do you see?" _Making eye contact with both men she let Tom touch their surface thoughts, there was surprise, concern, and an underlying kindness in the both of them, although the younger had a bit of mischievousness mixed with that, it was like an undercurrent of mirth playing on a sweet spring wind. Relaxing immediately she smiled to the pair while thinking,

_"Thanks Tom, what would I do without you?" _He snorted a bit,

_"Very little, but no worries I'm not going anywhere anytime soon,"_ still smiling happily she skipped ahead of the men bringing them into Aunt Bella's lab where all the adults were gathered, both Daddy and Uncle Padfoot gave her looks when they realized the Weasley's saw her present but she didn't mind, for some reason she trusted them. She continued to skip to Aunt Bella and hopped on her lap as the meeting began.

"Well," Sirius began, "I just wanted to formally thank you for capturing the rat, literally in this case, and offer you a reward," both men went a bit rigid at that but the younger spoke first,

"While I appreciate that Lord Black I didn't turn the tosser in for a reward, he'd used my family for years, slept in my little brothers bed-" at this everyone shuddered in revulsion, "-and was responsible for the deaths of dozens while letting his innocent friend rot in Azkaban, I only did what was right." Sirius grinned widely at this noticing the look of pride on Arthur's face,

"Be that as it may you have put the House of Black in your debt, and in doing so I owe your family by extension, since you do not want a monetary reward I instead will pay for your mastery training as well as the educations of all your siblings and the subsequent generation of Weasley's, and yes I'm aware of how many of you there are," he finished with a laugh. The two redheads stared at him in open mouthed wonder as he continued, "I've also contacted Gringott's and with Arthur's permission I'll be having them install top the line Wards around the Burrow, I'm sure this little event has made you at least a minor target for the Death Munchers so better to be safe then sorry, now Arthur we need to talk." The as of up till now silent balding man nodded slowly,

"What can I do for you Lord Black," Sirius face fell as he waved his hands frantically,

"No no no none of that Lord stuff, I let the kid slide but you're older then me for Morgana's sake, just call me Sirius, now I know you like your current position in the ministry but were you aware that you have a black mark on your file preventing you from getting any promotions or raises?" The older man looked stunned,

"N-no Lo...I mean Sirius, I did not, whatever for?" The wiry Lord hopped out of his seat as he began pacing,

"Former department head didn't like you, don't worry I already had her sacked for tampering with ministry files, you weren't the only one who she'd tried to ruin, anyway what it comes down to is that Barty Crouch just vacated his position as the head of the Department of International Cooperation and you're more than qualified to take the position. Believe it or not I got Lucius Malfoy of all people to agree to back me up (No need to mention it was due to Sirius asking Cissy to needle him a bit) so if you want the promotion and raise it's yours, and before you think this is a handout I intend to be very involved with the Ministry so I have no intention of sticking someone in a position that could make my life more difficult." Father and son conferred for a few minutes before they both nodded,

"I gladly accept the offer Sirius and wish to convey my thanks for the offer of paying for my children's schooling, I love my family but I will admit sometimes things get stretched a bit thin," Sirius was still smiling as he shook their hands,

"Excellent, excellent! Now, before you leave we need to discuss something here, my compatriots wayward ward-" he glanced to first Severus then Lillith, "-has apparently taken it upon herself to make you aware that she's here, I need you to give an oath that you will not let anyone know outside of this room up until the point it becomes known to the general public, especially Dumbledore." They both hesitated but Bella being Bella just gave them the whole sordid story sans what Vernon had done to Lillith, ten minutes later both men gave their vows willingly and left to tell their family the good news. As the adults all began chattering and Bella braided her hair she thought to Tom,

"_And now we have a Light family under our influence, what shall we acquire next?"_ Tom made a 'hmm' noise before replying,

_"You should get a pet Malfoy, they're great to have around, preening peacocks the lot of them but they're loaded and easy to manipulate as long as you know how to stroke their ego's, old Abraxos was a bit of pain to deal with but Lucius was always more malleable, I hear he has a son your age entering Hogwarts the same year you are."_ Now humming to herself as Bella explained how they were going to see if the viscosity of marmalade would make it a viable alternative to blood while summoning demons she gave a mental smirk to Tom,

_"Hmm, sounds like a plan, I've always wanted a pet, what if he becomes too attached?,"_ Tom sounding oddly possessive simply stated,

_"Nothing says 'Dark Lady' like the liberal usage of the cruciatus,"_ snorting Lillith rolled her eyes at that, Tom was great but sometimes unimaginative, she'd find a way to control her pet Malfoy in such a manner that he'd never even know it happened. Several hundred kilometers away a young blonde boy shivered as he stood in the July sun, eventually he shrugged off the odd event and went back to playing with his toy broom.

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><p><strong>I love how everyone marches to Lillith's drum and they're none the wiser, it's so much fun to write, hope you liked it and as always REVIEW!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5- Quality time with Aunt Bella

_**This chapter just kept writing itself, thoroughly enjoyed it, anyway I tried to cram as much as I could in this one since I really wanna get to the sorting. Anyway, enjoy and REVIEW**_

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><p><span><strong>Lupin Manor Late September 1990<strong>

Lillith padded lightly on her tip toes remaining as silent as a cat as she prowled along the darkened hallway, her vibrant eyes ever alert as she took in her surroundings. Making sure to avoid the boards that she knew creaked and staying to the deeper shadows she did her best to control her breathing as not to give away her position. One of Aunt Bella's primary lessons was how to stalk your prey without giving yourself away and not relying on magic to do it, the concept was foreign to Tom but Lilly understood it intimately from her time before with...best not think about them, dead and burned.

Unfortunately she wasn't stalking anything right now, rather she was the prey without the benefit of a wand, honestly this annoyed her immensely, she had also forgotten the knife Aunt Cissy had given her for her birthday a little less then two months ago. She really loved the elegant dagger, it was the one her Aunt herself had used at Hogwarts as a youngster and had been in the Black family for generations, it was charmed to stay ever sharp and had an ancient enchant to cause irrational fear in anyone cut by it.

Her Aunt was getting quite excited for in one more year Lilly could "come out of the closet" as they say and meet Cissy's boy Draco finally, the need to hide Lillith's existence from the boy removed with the advent of school. Dumbledore could bore into the Malfoy heirs mind all he wanted, the child's first meeting with her would be in Diagon alley, her Daddy and Aunt's and Uncles were so clever. Honestly Uncle Sirius wasn't fooling anyone with being a Gryffindor the man was just as Slytherin as the Black sisters and Daddy, although he'd never admit it.

She was knocked from her thoughts as the door in the dim room she'd found herself in slammed open and the figure standing in silhouette fired a spell at her, yelping she bolted for the opposing door at full speed. Ducking around the corner as the red beam of a cast spell flew through the space she had previously occupied she began running, pumping her legs the little ten year old peeled around another corner and dove beside a book case to catch her breath.

As her pursuer entered the room she rolled out from the bookcase and cast a wandless _lumos_ hopping to blind the attacker, regaining her footing she bolted for the next room and cringed in pain but shrugged it off as she caught the outer edge of the returning _cruciatus_ curse. Rolling beneath a table she sidled up the wooden legs and pressed her body firmly beneath the table top silently hoping the table cloth would hide her.

Her pursuer entered the room, dainty steps undone with clunky boots, they lifted the cloth covering her table but not all the way, her assailant left the room huffing and Lilly let out a slow breath. Carefully letting herself down she poked her head from underneath the blue tablecloth and seeing the coast was clear she bolted for the stairs leading to the second floor, as as she was about to take the first step the bellowed,

"CRUCIO!" sent her to her knees, the forward momentum sending her into a roll slamming into the unyielding wood steps , there was a clucking noise behind her and she tried to shrug off the pain curse before the woman took a knee next to her. "And what did we learn today Lilly?" Sighing the ravenette met her favorite aunts lilac gaze and huffed out,

"Be aware of my surroundings," nodding cheerfully Bellatrix reached into her hip bag and handed Lilly a vial, downing it quickly she immediately felt the pains twitching through her nervous system lesson, sighing in relief she collapsed against her aunt panting. Bellatrix shook her head sighing lightly,

"Dear your resistance to the imperius and cruciatus is something to behold be please don't push yourself like this, if I'd known you were going to be this bad off I'd not have agreed to this weeks training." Shuddering and trying to force the curses after effects off Lilly sat up and stared at the far wall,

"If I don't train I'll be eaten alive in the snake pit, and you're the only one whose willing to see that as truth Aunt Bella," the woman in question sighed and pulled Lilly into her lap and began stroking her hair. Lilly loved when Aunt Bella did this, it was almost like having a mom, leaning into her Aunt's embrace they sat there for a bit before the elder witch rasped out,

"Honey, I can't do much more for you, the cruciatus is powered by hate, and I _can't_ hate you angel, and I'm afraid of the damage I might unintentionally cause you if I really push it, I'm sorry I really am but this lesson may be at its end." Lilly paused a moment then tried to burrow deeper into Bella's embrace before responding,

"Can...can you teach me to focus my hatred...so...so I can hurt people that want to hurt me?" Bella stilled than resumed rocking the girl back and forth,

"Where would you find such hate little one? You're a conniving little snake as you well should be but you're a gentle soul, you're going to be capable of many things but pure hatred?" Not even pretending to hesitate Lilly spat out,

"The _Dursley's_," Bella was quiet for a few minutes then she nodded,

"Ok, we'll go idiot baiting, if we catch a fool and he...passes inspection I'll let you practice on him," smiling up at her mentor Lilly pecked her on the cheek before snuggling back into the hug,

"Thanks Aunt Bella...I love you," smiling down at her protege Bella continued stroking her hair as she whispered,

"Love you too my little viper, love you too."

It was early October when Bellatrix took Lillith out to Diagon Alley, she'd put the little raventette's hair into two braids and charmed it strawberry blonde, she also applied some makeup to her faint scar as to avoid identification and given her a pair of false glasses. Eyeing them suspiciously she met her Aunt's amused gaze,

"You needed corrective eye treatment when you were younger, your dad was feeding you the appropriate potions since the day he found out to alter your vision and those were what we bought in case the potions didn't take. At least they're stylish, imagine if you were wearing a pair like your father had." Bella laughed as her nieces nose scrunched up cutely in obvious distaste,

"Ok I guess," still frowning she slid the offending glasses on and turned to her Aunt asking, "How do I look?" Smiling down at the petite bundle of adorableness before her Bella brought out her wand and cast a charm giving her some freckles, nodding in approval she giggled a bit.

"You look wonderful, now put on that yellow robe, yes that one and those cute white shoes, excellent! Now you know the plan?" Nodding enthusiastically she reached for Bella's hand and followed her to the Floo, Bella took a pinch of powder, stated "The Leaky Cauldron," and stepped through flames. Lilly was immediately glad Uncle Padfoot had given her training on how to appropriately Floo travel, apparently her father and mother both were helpless when it came to the things and they'd always go flying. Glancing up to Bella who was also now glamoured as a somewhat doughy looking older witch they both shook off the ash and made their way to the Alley proper.

As they passed the ice cream shop she noticed a girl sitting alone with stacks of books surrounding her, she had bushy hair and keen eyes that were carefully flitting over the tome in her small hands. What made her stand out was the fact that she was wearing muggle clothes (suggesting she was muggle born) and the books she had held details on the Wizengamot, Pure-Blood traditions, wizarding religious beliefs and many more. Both she and Tom 'hmm'd a bit at that, filing it away for after the field trip Lilly followed Bella to Knockturn Alley, Bella cast a few tracking charms on her and handed her a small ring.

"Now I'm going to disillusion myself and keep pace behind you, if you get separated and panic that ring will portkey you back to Lupin Manor, are you sure you're up for this little one?" Emerald met lilac as Lilly nodded with a completely serious expression settling on her face,

"It needs to be done," nodding sadly Bella gave her a quick peck on the forehead and with a wave of her wand the older witch disappeared, taking a deep breath Lilly slid the ring on and made her way through the filthy alley. She was eyed almost immediately, several hags made to reach for her but Tom subtly lashed out with a couple psychic barbs sending them running, they were not part of today's lesson after all. Eventually she picked up a tail and Lilly did something she'd sworn she'd never do again, she acted weak, looking back behind her and seeing the filthy man following her she threw on a feigned look of panic and increased her pace.

Weaving through the carts and stalls she ducked into a small alley between shops and went for a full sprint losing her glasses in the process, the man quickened his pace and she felt his grubby hand grab her shoulder. Shouting in surprise she gasped as the man swung her around and pinned her to the wall, he leaned in and she gagged as his body oder washed over her, he licked his lips and grinned exposing broken yellow teeth.

"Ol' Rorge didn't think he'd be able to have somethin' so pretty to hisself, no he didn'," his grubby calloused hand began stroking her cheek and she felt Tom's rage building, the problem was she felt her own rising as well. She clamped down on her anger, she pulled the fires back to herself not letting them explode, that would ruin the point of todays lesson after all.

As that thought entered her mind the pure white rage that had nearly consumed her coalesced and crystallized, focusing on her absolute fury she felt the world around her freeze over. The man stopped his ministrations his bloodshot eyes widening in surprise seeing the glamours around the girl fail as the ambient magic was drawn into the frozen furnace before him, he involuntarily began whimpering as the white of the girls eyes turned to obsidian black, her emerald irises glowing. Before she could do anything she heard a spat out,

"Petrificus Totalus," and the man went rigid his eyes showing real fear, Lilly didn't meet Bella's gaze as she let her rage vent around her, the alley practically glowed with the released magic. Tom let out a low whistle ignoring the human refuse that Bella was currently mind raping,

_"Little one, that was...intense,"_ Lilly completely disregarded the hungry tone of Tom's voice as she replied,

_"I have no idea what that was, I knew I couldn't lash out at him, not yet anyway so I just bound my anger, but the more I held it in the angrier I got..."_ Tom nodded approvingly,

"_And the angrier you got the tighter your control became...I've said it before child, you will be a force to be reckoned with when you're older,"_ nodding absently she noticed Bella was frowning at the man who had now pissed himself. She'd been so focused on their test subject she hadn't noticed the alley's frozen over surface nor Lilly's odd behavior, turning to her niece she growled out,

"He's perfect, I've sealed the end of the alley and put silencing charms on him, are you sure you want to go through with this angel?" Taking a deep breath Lilly nodded as she gripped her mother's wand tightly and approached the man, without her permission Tom lashed out at the terrified test subjects mind and reeled back as if burned,

"_Ssshe'sss mine fool!"_ He hissed through her mouth, the parseltongue terrifying the man further, Lilly herself didn't notice his minor hijacking as she observed what the man had planned for her, embracing the cold fury she had felt moments before she could see him panicking as her eyes darkened once again.

"Crucio," Such a simple word, such a swift wand movement, and so so satisfying, she felt the dark power course through her veins, felt the elation of the forbidden magics and the pleasure it fed her. Instead of letting it infuse her like so many others had in the past she instead fed the feelings of pleasure and darkness into her frozen rage further stoking its icey fire; unbeknownst to her she was unconsciously performing what differentiated dark witches from a Dark Lady.

There was no insane cackling, there was no losing herself to the pleasures of the dark arts, the byproducts of which had caused so many witches and wizards to fall once they tasted the forbidden fruit, there was just the power and her will to wield it. The man began screaming silently unable to open his mouth, his twitching became so bad that she heard his bones snap as he desperately tried to flail against his invisible restraints, she cut the curse and calmly stated,

"Am I doing it right Aunt Bella?" She glanced to the older witch from the corner of her eye, afraid to see how she'd react, she was slightly startled to see her holding her chin contemplatively as if she were observing an artist at work.

"Hmm, give it a bit of an extra flourish on the quarter circle turn, you had a bit of energy leakage and it could cause you issues down the line," nodding Lilly cast the unforgivable again and managed to hold it twenty seconds before she was huffing and puffing. The man was a wreck but still seemed lucid enough, Lilly let her fury go and felt a shudder run up her body as her other emotions began to register, chief amongst them disgust and self loathing. She was going to be honest with herself, she was pleased she'd gained no long term joy from torturing a man, even one as deserving as this piece of filth, not knowing why she dared ask the question now of all times she quietly whispered,

"Can you be dark without being evil Aunt Bella?" The older witch went to her knees and pulled the little girl into a hug,

"Of course darling, your whole family is dark, your Daddy, Uncle Moony, Aunt Cissy and even Aunt Andi and Uncle Padfoot despite how they insist otherwise, we're all dark but we still love each other, we still love you." Crying openly now she held Bellatrix tight, yes her family was dark, she was dark, but she wouldn't turn away from what made her who she was to get what she wanted. Bella released her and wiped Lilly's eyes on the sleeve of her robes, "I think today's lessons are done, how about some ice cream?" The girl nodded but her face remained serious, as she let her aunt guide her to the sealed alley end she turned to the man they had left on the ground,

"What about him?" Bella turned around and had a rather funny 'Oh yeah!' look cross her face that made Tom chuckle, she lifted her wand and shrugged,

"Avada Kadavra," both witches watched dispassionately as the killing light struck the man, meeting Lilly's eyes she nodded slightly, she'd see worse in the snake pit, best to learn early. As Bella guided Lilly back to Diagon Alley they were lost in their own thoughts leaving Tom to think about what he'd seen today, his apprentice was getting a bit ahead of herself but he was incredibly pleased with her progress. Sure her training with her crazy aunt hadn't been in the cards but Tom was if anything adaptable and the control and survival instincts she'd developed would serve them well. After a time they reached the shop and settled into a chair next to the reading girl who somehow seemed to have acquired more books in their hour away.

Lilly began reading over the girls shoulder and noticed she was using a yellow muggle highlighter on certain pages, silently whispering the incantation for hawk sight she read the highlighted passages and let her brows raise. The girl was researching the treatment of muggle-borns it seemed, glancing to the parchments scattered around her Lilly became more and more intrigued, there was a slight cough as the girl turned to face her. Lilly felt her heart catch in her throat as the girls piercing brown eyes stared her down, she could practically feel the keen intelligence and magical power pouring from the chocolate orbs. Tom whispered quickly,

"_That might be the in we need with the muggle-borns right there, don't waste it child,"_ shaking herself from her stunned stupor Lilly gave the girl a sheepish smile which only resulted in a single brow raising in question,

"You do realize it's rude to stare?" Blushing (when the hell did she start _blushing?!_) Lilly quickly stammered out,

"So-sorry I was just surprised at what you were researching is all," the brunette seemed to realize she wasn't going to get anymore reading done at the moment so she huffed slightly running a hand through her bushy mane,

"Why do you find it surprising?" Frowning Lilly cocked her head to the side trying to figure out how to best word it,

"Well, and take no offense to this but I'm going to say it's fairly obvious you're a muggle-born yes?" The girl's brow furrowed a bit and she nodded, "It's just odd, outside of my mother I don't think I've really ever heard of muggle-borns taking such interest in our culture." That had apparently been the right thing to say, the girls defensive posture relaxed a bit as she gave Lilly a warm smile, her front teeth were a bit big for her mouth but it didn't seem to detract from her character at all.

"I am a muggle-born, and well..." she worried a her lip a bit which was honestly kind of endearing "You see when I discovered I had magic I was ever so excited, I thought to myself THIS is why I never fit in, why I always felt different and like I didn't belong." Lilly noticed the sad look that crossed the brunette's face and felt a pang of sympathy, it sounded too much like the feelings she had at the Dursley's for her liking.

The girl fidgeted with her skirt a bit before she continued, "When I was brought to the Alley a couple weeks ago I bought all my school supplies for next year, once I got my wand I could not stop smiling I was just...I felt so..."

"Complete," Lily said with a knowing smile, she felt the same way with her mother's wand, if she were to be honest she really had no desire to replace it with her own but alas if she wanted to keep its untraceable status... The brunette nodded enthusiastically as Bellatrix sat at Lilly's table looking at the girls oddly, she handed Lilly her sundae and opened up a copy of the Daily Prophet, Bella's silent 'Please don't mind me.'

"Yes, and as I left the shop I nearly ran into a man, truly it was his fault, his nose was so far up in the air that I am fairly certain he expected everyone to be paying attention to him rather then the other way around. I apologized and he sneered at me and called me a 'filthy mudblood' and kept walking, I'm...I'm use to people not liking me for being a bit of a know it all, I'm not use to them hating me without knowing me." Lillith winced at this and Bella lowered her paper to meet her eyes, after a tense moment of silence she asked,

"Lilly, whose your friend?" Both girls blushed deeply realizing they'd never introduced themselves,

"Oh I'm ever so sorry! I'm Hermione Granger, pleased to meet you!" Giving the girl a bemused grin Bella nodded to her,

"Bellatrix Lupin, and you've already met my niece Lillith Black," Lilly caught Bella's eye and nodded slightly in understanding, she'd tell the girl the truth later if at all, plus technically she was the Black heiress anyway so it wasn't really a lie. Lilly turned back to Hermione and gave her a small smile,

"So it appears you had your first run in with a pure-blood bigot, they're never too kind to muggle-borns I'm afraid, although I have an ongoing theory on that..." Hermione began playing with her hair a bit before sighing,

"Yes well...to further prove my ignorance on the wizarding world I had no idea I'd just been insulted, when my parents took me to Madam Malkin's for robes I asked her what it meant, she gave me a rather pitying look and gave me a crash course on blood status and how backwards and behind the times the magical world is." Bella's hands crinkled the paper a bit in irritation and Tom gritted his proverbial teeth, yes the magical world had issues but it was _theirs _damnit.

Oddly enough Hermione hit off on that without noticing the darkening mood around her, "That planted the seed of an idea in my mind and I mulled it over that night, I brought it up to my mum and dad and well, they reminded me of a holiday we took to France." Leaning back in her seat the girl began twirling her quill between her thumb and forefinger, "We'd arrived at our hotel in Paris and met an American family, they were nice I suppose but they'd brought along a pair of relatives that they obviously weren't too fond of. We'd agreed to have dinner together and went to a higher class restaurant, mum and dad are both dentists so it wasn't the first time I'd been taken to such a place." Bellatrix looked confused as she asked,

"Dentists? What are those?" Lilly coughed to hide the laugh she had at her Aunt's ignorance,

"Muggle doctors that specialize in healing and replacing teeth, no skela-grow or the like so they have to do things the hard way, namely drilling" Bella grimaced and subconsciously rubbed her jaw, the very idea was...she shuddered a bit and motioned for the girl to continue.

"Anyway the family was very pleasant and I got along with their son well enough, the other couple, his uncle and aunt apparently were obnoxious, they'd come to France fully expecting everyone to adapt to them, they whinged about the food, the service, the menus being in French, the waiters being incompetent, it didn't end. Eventually the family got so embarrassed that they excused themselves and we soon followed, we ran into them a few more times that week and apparently the obnoxious couple had become something like social pariahs, no one wanted to be around them."

Hermione stretched a bit then met Lilly's eyes with a look of resolve, "I understood what my parents were trying to get at reminding of that story, you can't just walk into a foreign culture and expect everything to be the same, for everything to be the way you see it should be. So I decided to learn everything I can, to gain all the knowledge most muggle-borns ignore and become a part of the wizarding world mind body and soul, when that's done, well..than I can start helping make changes that are needed while being respectful to that which doesn't ."

She blushed fiercely realizing that not only were the ravenettes staring at her, so were many of the other patrons, and for the life of her she didn't know what to think of all the approving looks. Lilly had a massive smile crawl up her face as she hopped down from her chair and faced Hermione directly,

"That's so...very Slytherin of you," meeting her gaze evenly she dropped her tone so only Hermione could hear her, "I'm not making any major changes to my plans, not yet but...you've intrigued me, I think you and I may have similar goals and we'd be mutually useful to each other. I'm not in the habit of finding peers but...you're different." Still staring at the perplexed witch Lilly offered her a hand, "Friends?" Hermione had been calculating a thousand ways this strange girl would have rejected or degraded her after her little speech this...wasn't what she expected. Shakily taking her hand she nodded,

"I'd...I'd like a friend," Lilly grinned at her happily, she took a piece of blank parchment off Hermione's table and quickly wrote her phone number's for the Tonks' home and Lupin Manor, Spinners End didn't have a phone but daddy wouldn't be back till the holidays anyway.

"Me too, I think...I think we've much to talk about Hermione, please give me a call at either of these places, I'm usually at the Tonks' home during the week and Lupin Manor on the weekends, if you want to know how our world works and you really want to embrace it well...I think I can be of help." Hermione wasn't stupid, as thrilled as she was at prospect of having a friend she knew when something was too good to be true,

"And...and what do you get out of it?" Grinning a bit Lilly leaned in to whisper in her ear,

"I'm thinking I get a co-conspirator who very well may be able to keep up with me, you're Slytherin to the core but you'd be dead within a week in the snake pit, together watching each others backs well...I've always liked the term 'Hostile Takeover', it has gravitas." Leaning back she caught the slight smirk Hermione was sporting,

"Can I call you tomorrow?" Lilly giggled a bit and gave her a quick curtsy,

"But of course, but now Aunt Bella needs to get me home before anyone finds out we took off without finishing her project," Bella gasped as she knocked over her sundae,

"Morgana's tits I forgot about the deadline, come come Lillith we need to get home and summon that demon, the apothacary is going to be furious if he doesn't get that blood by tomorrow." Chuckling Lilly rolled her eyes at her Aunt as Hermione squeaked out,

"Demon?!" Laughing Lilly patted her shoulder,

"Just a small one, imp blood is a necessary component for most banishing potions but your average summoner is too much of a nancy to get it from the demon," her grin went positively feral, "We don't suffer from such problems, plus its incredibly profitable." Saying her goodbyes to her new friend and her strange Aunt Hermione sat back down at her table glancing at her watch, well she'd planned ingratiating herself into a pure or half blood families graces but this was an unexpected turn of events. It was obvious Lilly had her own plans but instead of using each other...

"Partners," she said with a smile, friends and partners in crime, she rather liked the sound of that, gathering her books up she packed them back into her bag and walked back to The Leaky Cauldron to wait for her parents. Today's events had been unexpected but not unwelcome, she'd thought she'd have to go into Ravenclaw since Slytherin was out of the question, but with Lillith's help...sipping the butterbeer the friendly barkeep had slipped her she crawled up the bar stool and and began planning the future.

The following year saw Hermione become an integral part of Lilly's life, the adults who cared for her were actually ecstatic that she'd made a friend close to her age that was free of Dumbledore, the man took practically no interest in muggle-borns after all. The fact that he delegated introducing them to the magical world to his incredibly over worked deputy headmistress rather showed how much he cared, it didn't matter in the end though because it directly benefited Lillith's plans. Hermione was an information sponge, and while she had some hard wired ideals she'd learned how to keep them under wraps thanks to Bellatrix and Andromeda's teachings, both witches were pleased at how easily the girl picked up occulmancy.

It hadn't taken long for the pair to become thick as thieves, Uncle Padfoot began calling them the start of the next generation of Marauder's, dad wasn't amused when he'd heard that but honestly outside of learning to be an animagus she had no desire to prank people. Really she'd have ideas prepared beforehand for specific acts of vengeance but outside of that she didn't see the point of making herself the obvious target for when shenanigans occurred; this appeased her dad, as far as he was concerned plotting revenge was just part of being Slytherin.

Back to the animagus thing, thanks to Tom letting her 'cheat' a bit by allowing her to access some of his more advanced transfiguration techniques Lilly and Hermione had actually managed to complete the mediation rituals to discover their animal form within six months of starting. Uncle Padfoot and Aunt Bellatrix were both beside themselves with pride, a month before Lilly's eleventh birthday they'd completed their first full transformation, and sweet Morgana did it hurt. The girl who let herself get hit with the cruciatus curse to harden herself to it felt that it hurt, something to think on, after a few weeks practice and several embarrassing incidents involving their clothing not changing with them the two animagus sat before their mentors.

"She's so cute!" Bellatrix crooned as she stroked the head feathers of the green eyed raven fledgling sitting in her palm, Sirius was grinning at the fox pup sniffing around the corners of the room, the breed appeared to be a red but the fur was the unmistakable shade of Hermione's hair.

"I think it is absolutely fitting that those girls ended up as two of the more cunning and curious animals found on the isles, very fitting," Severus stated as he leaned in the doorway, the small raven adjusted her wings a bit and then flew towards the potions master. In mid flight she shifted to her human form and Lillith landed in the surprised mans embrace,

"Daddy! When did you get back? I thought you had to get everything prepared for school to start?" Smiling fondly at his daughter he placed her on the ground and greeted Hermione who also shifted back to her human form,

"I just arrived, and I do have much to do, but I hear you had a bit of an incident today," frowning Lilly nodded,

"Yeah Ollivander couldn't find a perfect match for me, then he tried to get me to use the brother of the Dark Lords wand, bloody thing _exploded_! I spent most of the afternoon at Saint Mungo's getting the splinters removed." Grimacing Snape began stroking her hair calming her down, Hermione interjected with a bit of good news though,

"He did say to keep an eye out for magical materials that call out to her, if she finds components he can use he'll gladly make her a custom wand," Lilly smiled at that,

"Yeah that's kinda neat, and being at a magical school surrounded by all sorts of animals I'm sure something will call to me, until then I'll use moms..." Severus stared at her a moment before calmly stating,

"What did you do?" Eyes widening his daughter began wringing her hands a bit as she muttered something incoherent, cocking a brow he waited for her to crack, eventually she dropped her head and sighed.

"I may have lifted a wand off a drunk at the Leaky Cauldron and let Ollivander think it was mine to avoid putting the trace on mom's..." Severus blinked rapidly and was cut off from responding by Bellatrix and Sirius' barking laughter, after a moment Severus began rubbing his eyes muttering to himself. Hermione looked highly amused by the turn of events,

"It was quite the Slytherin thing to do, is she going to be in trouble?" She said this with a bit of apprehension but Severus only rolled his eyes,

"Please I already allowed her to become an unregistered animagus and had her train with _Blacks_ for the past five years, I think I'd be quite the hypocrite if I started calling her out on her scheming at this point. Just...don't get caught dear, all right?" Smiling Lilly hugged him again,

"Love you daddy, thanks for understanding," sighing Severus shook his head and said his goodbyes, reminding the girls to keep up their studies he vanished in the floo, for once Lilly wasn't sad to see him go since by the end of the month she'd get to see him every day. The rest of the month was spent getting to know Lillith's new familiar, the snowy white owl had been a gift from Aunt Andi and Uncle Ted, she'd named her Hedwig and the disturbingly intelligent bird seemed to be quite happy that her mistress could fly around with her.

September first came about much faster than Lilly would have expected, she'd insisted that she go to platform 9 3/4 on her own because honestly she didn't want to cry in front of her entire class while leaving her family, so with understanding in their eyes the Tonks, Lupin's, and Sirius wished her farewell. Once she was dropped off at the station a half hour early she used the time to hook up with Hermione, the pair loitered about sitting on their trunks marveling at the huge steam engine when she heard a familiar voice.

Perking up she took Hermione's hand and led her to a trio of aristocratic looking blondes, the man and boy looked at them with practiced disdain, the woman not so much,

"Lillith, Hermione! So good to see you!" Both girls grinned and curtsied in sync,

"Hello Aunt Cissy, are you doing well?" Nodding she gestured to her son and husband,

"You of course remember Draco from Diagon Alley, he's been quite enamored by you," Draco and Lilly both blushed at that and averted their gazes, Lucius looked amused at the reaction. Narcissa had informed him of all the details involving the girl and put simply he approved, if his son honestly became interested in her one day, well, there were far worse matches available. Clearing his throat he drawled out,

"I heard you had a bit of an incident after we left your company," rather than be embarrassed Lilly let out an annoyed huff and related what had happened in the wand shop and Ollivander's promise. Stroking his chin Lucius nodded slightly,

"If you do find elements for your own wand do tell Draco, I may be able to connect you with a wandmaker that is not so...sympathetic to Dumbledore's cause," he knew he'd said the right thing immediately as the girls eyes shined with a cunning gleam and her smirk became a toothy grin.

"Don't make a girl a promise you might not be able to keep Lord Malfoy," he scoffed and gave her a mild bow,

"My lady I always keep my word," still grinning the girls said their goodbyes to the Malfoy's and they flanked Draco leading him to the train, the boy hadn't spoken much but he offered to help get their trunks on board so they took him up on his offer. Eventually they took a cabin and Lilly used her wand to place the trunks in the overhead storage since there was no one to see her perform under aged magic. Settling in Lilly adjusted her hair and made sure her makeup was in order in her small compact mirror, she was going to keep the scar covered as much as possible and she'd thrown on a light eyeliner for the hell of it.

After an uncomfortable silence they got Draco talking, he'd been informed beforehand that Hermione was never to be referred to as a mudblood by his mother, he'd been rather impressed when she explained the girls desire to join their culture fully rather then muggle'ing it up. So he was pleased when both his cabin mates followed him as he discussed sitting in on the Wizengamot with his father,

"And than Fudge began panicking, eventually he turned to father in the _middle_ of the session and asked 'Is that all right Lucius?', I thought father was going to hex the man right there." Lilly snickered and Hermione just stared at him aghast,

"He implicated his benefactor in the middle of the entire court?! How has that man not been black bagged by the pure-bloods yet!" Snorting in amusement the blonde rolled his eyes,

"I have no idea, maybe he's just too useful of an idiot to sacrifice yet? Anyway father's eye starts ticking which is your first indicator that things are about to get...hairy, so-" he was interrupted as the door was slid open. The trio glanced over to see a redhead in threadbare rumpled clothes and dirt on his face, he looked at them scowling as he realized they were all wearing green, after a moment he asked,

"Have any of you seen Lilly Potter?" Exchanging glances with her friends Hermione spoke up,

"I'm sorry I have not been introduced to anyone by that name," sneering a bit the boy slammed the door shut and stormed off, Draco looked mildly confused,

"Err...what was that about?" Hermione shrugged while Lilly eyed her,

"So I've gotten you to out and out lie now eh? My powers of corruption are stronger then I thought," Hermione gave her a disdainful sniff as she began leafing through a book,

"If you recall you introduced yourself to me as Lillith Black, not Lilly Potter, as you can see I did not lie to the ragamuffin." Draco busted out laughing and Lilly soon joined, the journey remained quiet after that until a timid knock was heard at the door, considering the last person had just barged in Lilly moved to open it. What awaited her pulled on her heartstrings, the emotions made Tom groan about female softness but she told him to shut it, the chubby boy in front of her was sobbing and asking if she'd seen a toad.

"No I haven't, what's his name?" Looking shocked that someone was paying attention to him he sniffed a bit and said,

"Tr-Trevor," Lilly smiled at him and held her wand in the palm of her hand, she muttered,

"Point Me, Trevor the toad," the wand spun a few times then pointed to the far end of the train, gripping the wand firmly she calmly cast out, "Accio Travor the toad," there was an indignant croak as the projectile amphibian came hurtling past several students. Timing it right she gently caught the toad and gave it to the now elated boy, he grinned at her happily and offered his hand,

"Th-thanks so much, my names Neville, Neville Longbottom," grinning in return she shook his hand and invited him to sit with her friends, he seemed genuinely shocked but accepted after a bit of prodding. Introductions were made and Lilly was doing her best to break the boy of his obvious self esteem issues, she had to catch Draco's eye a couple times to warn him to not needle the poor boy. After he related the horrible stories of his family thinking him a squib Draco actually looked at him in mild confusion,

"Longbottom, may I see your wand?" Looking terrified he turned to Lilly who was equally confused but nodded, he handed it to the Malfoy heir and he scoffed a bit, handing it back he asked, "Longbottom, that wand is quite old, you're family is one of the Thirteen, I _know_ you have the money to buy a new one. What gives?" Neville sighed and muttered about his grans fixation on him taking after his father, Lilly decided now was a good time to cultivate a future ally,

"Neville, I get the symbolism I really do, I'm using my mother's wand after all, but if the wand doesn't chose you it won't work right, hell I had one _explode_ on me in Ollivander's shop, here cast a lumos with your wand real quick." He did so and the saddest little light in the world was all they got, sighing she took the wand from him and handed him her mother's, "Again." This time the light flooded the cabin and his eyes widened in shock,

"Brilliant!" Smirking Lilly took it back and handed Neville his wand,

"Yeah, we'll talk to Professor Snape when we get to the castle, he can arrange a visit to Diagon Alley sometime this weekend and we can get _your_ wand." The poor boy looked gobsmacked,

"Sna-Snape?!" He asked with real fear, "I've heard he's terrifying!" Lilly cackled a bit while Hermione and Draco smirked,

"He can be but lets just say he has a soft spot for me and those I call friends, trust me on this one all right? I'll keep you safe," looking at her in awe he thanked her profusely and after a few minutes he wandered off to his own cabin to change.

"You dear Lillith are a Wicked Witch," Hermione stated with a smirk, Draco was shaking his head looking at his new friend with admiration,

"That boy will do anything you ask of him at this point, and one of the thirteen to boot! The amount of political power you could exert..." Lilly let out her 'Aunt Bella' cackle no longer able to contain herself, catching her breath she twisted in her seat so she could rest her head in Hermion's lap.

"And I haven't even been sorted yet, goddess sometimes it's truly amazing being me," this got further chuckles from her friends, so far this year was looking up, she sighed in contentment and let her mind wander, Tom eventually spoke up sounding supremely satisfied,

_"Lilly?" _

_"Yes Tom?"_

_"I mean this with no intent to flatter, you are undoubtedly the best apprentice I've ever had,"_ she snorted at that,

_"And how many apprentices have you had?"_

_"Honestly? Dozens, and they've always failed me, this is going to be a very interesting year"_ letting the grin take hold one last time before she dozed off she agreed,

"_Yuuup..."_

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><p><strong><em>This was fun, also I made Bella and Lilly forget about their glamour charms wearing off on purpose, Lilly because she was preoccupied, Bella because she's crazy. Did I mention I love writing Bella and Lilly interactions? Anyway PLEASE REVIEW!<em>**


	6. Chapter 6- Making a Statement

**Sorry it's a bit short, just really wanted this published, ENJOY AND REVIEW!**

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><p>Lilly was roused from a rather pleasant dream involving her, Hermione, and Draco cackling over the broken remains of a burnt down Ministry of Magic by an elderly sing song voice,<p>

"Sweets, anyone want to buy some sweets?" Not moving from her incredibly comfortable position on Hermione's lap Lilly ignored the trolley lady as she began contemplating how one _would_ burn down a mostly stone and metal building,

_'Fiendfyre I'd imagine," _Tom threw out, Lilly mentally nodded at that,

_"Or that explosion curse Aunt Bella and I worked out, 'Czar Bombarda', that could wreck someones day," _Tom 'hmm'd at this before replying,

_"Could go the Guy Fawkes route and blow the building up with muggle explosives,_" Lilly felt her brows physically raise at this,

_"YOU know about the Gunpowder Rebellion? Color me impressed," _Tom rolled his eyes while scoffing,

_"Dear I DID spend a lot of time in the muggle world keep in mind,"_ Lilly groaned at this,

_"I'm aware considering you are singing Queen to yourself whenever you get bored, I swear if I hear 'We are the Champions' one more time..."_ Taking a teasing tone Tom rebutted with,

_"Would you prefer Bohemian Rhapsody?"_ Mulling it over she then nodded,

_"Yes, actually I would, and as for going Fawkes on the ministry not a bad idea, need to make sure my useful idiots aren't there at the time, we've got about a decade to plan this out so no real rush, I'm thinking in a few years it'll be easy enough to get our hands on some Soviet gear. With the collapse of the U.S.S.R imminent the Warsaw Pact will go with it, and the Russians made...quite a bit of material that can fall through the cracks."_ Tom was saved from a response when she felt a slight weight land on her chest, cracking her eyes she saw a couple chocolate frogs before her, glancing to Draco he smiled at her giving her a slight nod.

Blushing a bit and not quite knowing why she than grinned at him in return, "Thanks Draco," she said as she sat up and tore into the candy, Hermione was idly chewing the tip of a licorice wand still reading her book one handed so Lilly decided to see what her Pure-Blood friend knew about the muggle world. A half hour later he was gaping at her with an incredulous look writ across his face,

"Muggles landed on the moon, more then _twenty years_ ago?" Lilly giggled a bit at that nodding as she finished her last chocolate, she'd discovered at some point in the past five years that it was her only real weakness. Well that and hugs, she could never get enough of those,

"Yup! And the spaceship the yanks used had the processing power of a modern wristwatch, you don't know what I mean but trust me when I say muggle technology has progressed more in the past ninety years than it has in the past four thousand. They have weapons that are like muskets but instead of being able to fire three times a minute they can fire thirty times a _second_, they have weapons that can be fired from the other side of the world that can destroy entire cities leaving them poisoned craters for generations. They have ships bigger then the entirety of Diagon Alley that carry aeroplanes (think metal bird like brooms that go faster than the speed of sound) that can raze cities hundreds of kilometers away without ever having to even _see_ what they're shooting at."

She was grinning at the now white faced Malfoy scion, the entire time she'd been speaking she'd been drawing photos out of her bag showing off everything she was talking about, bless Hermione and her insistence on visual aids. While Draco was gaping at the evidence Hermione let her book drop so she could meet his eyes,

"That's why Lilly and I are both supporters of the agenda to keep muggles out of the magical world, Salazar had a point that they'll destroy our way of life but not quite in the way he thought, we're literally one major incident from having our entire society being purged. We're outnumbered six billion to ten million world wide, rather sobering isn't it?" Draco could only nod as he shuffled through the photos Lilly had handed him, before he could reply there was yet another knock at the door but this one sounded rather self assured, yelling to come in the door slid aside to reveal a pair of identical twins.

They were both redheads with well groomed shoulder length hair, mischievous but friendly grins gracing their freckled faces, they were both immaculately dressed in crisply pressed red dress shirts accompanied with black ties and slacks. The ensemble was finished off with well polished shoes and each had a silver ring with a blue stone set in its center on their right hands. As one they bowed to the group,

"Ello likkle firsties allow us to introduce ourselves,"

"He's Fred,"

"And he's George,"

"And we're the Weasley twins," their back and forth banter ended in unison here, bemused Lilly stood and curtsied,

"I am Lillith Potter, these are my companions Hermione Granger and Draco Malfoy," the twins brows rose at her name and twitched at Draco's but they had no other reaction than that,

"Good to meet you dear lady,"

"And so polite too!"

"Indeed dear brother, anyway we're just going on our annual 'warn the firskies' run"

"Indeed! See we're the quintessential pranksters of Hogwarts,"

"The spiritual successors of the Marauders if you will,"

"And we're just giving you a heads up that if you or any other first years accidentally get caught in one of our pranks just come to us and we'll gladly reverse it,"

"Quite, we've found that most kids entering an unfamiliar place separated from their family and everything they've ever known for nearly a year,"

"Have a tendency to view pranking as bullying, so its best to just clear the air beforehand." The three friends were exchanging bemused looks at the twins method of speech, Lilly spoke first giving them a somewhat regal nod,

"I appreciate the warning Messres Weasley, now what's this about the Marauders?" The pair of redheads had a glint in their eyes as they described their idols, after about five minutes Lilly was on the floor laughing,

"Oh my Goddess! Padfoot is my Uncle Sirius, Moony is my Uncle Remus, and my father James was Prongs!" The twins eyes widened in shock and they began demanding details but one word ceased her jovial mood,

"Wormtail," she spat with such fury that the temperature in the room dropped a few degrees, "Is someone you're rather familiar with, Peter Pettigrew." Their faces fell at that, after an awkward silence they talked for a few more minutes before Hermione spoke up,

"Excuse me do you have a younger brother?" The twins exchanged an exasperated look before sighing,

"Yes," George conceded,

"Not that we'd readily admit it mind you," Fred continued, Hermione cocked her head than asked,

"Dirty, rude, tatty clothing?" They winced in unison,

"Yeah sounds about right," they replied, Draco's curiosity finally got the better of his families animosity with the Weasley's,

"Than why isn't he as well dressed as you two?" They ran their hands through their hair, it really was quite brilliant how they operated in tandem,

"Err, most of our lives we were rather, _un_-wealthy, one of the holdovers was that mum and dad will only give us nice things if we can prove we can take care of them, we're rather particular about our appearance since we eventually want to go into business for ourselves," George replied with the longest none-stereo sentence they'd heard from the twins yet.

"Ron umm...he's...lazy, mum kinda coddled him a lot, thank Merlin little Ginny emulates Bill and Charlie rather then him. Anyway he has to prove he can take care of his things and well...he's failed, horrifically and consistently,"

"And the rudeness?" Hermione threw in, at this they both shrugged,

"You've got us, if the boy doesn't straighten up he's going to have a very lonely seven years," after that Lilly promised to get them in contact with Padfoot and Moony for pranking tips, excusing themselves the twins left leaving the cabin in contemplative silence. Lilly than broke down into a fit of giggles,

"They're just like Uncle Sirius, closet Slytherin's moonlighting as Gryffindors!" Draco nodded rubbing his chin unconsciously imitating his father,

"Yes...something tells me those two are not easily manipulated," Hermione hummed in agreement,

"If we're going to use them it will likely be as a partnership, you could feel the restrained intelligence, something tells me there is far more to them then they want anyone to realize." Her companions nodded in agreement, after another half hour they asked Draco to leave the room a moment so they could change, ten minutes later they traded places with him then they all eventually retook their seats now fully robed. Lilly was fidgeting with her sleeves before she sighed and asked,

"What...what if we don't get sorted into the same house?" The other two paused, exchanged a look then grinned at their ravenette friend,

"Dear Lillith, I sincerely doubt you're ending up anywhere _but_ Slytherin, same with Draco, worst case scenario I'll end up in Ravenclaw but I honestly doubt it, the 'claws hoard knowledge for its own sake and never use it. Me? I have...plans," giving Hermione a watery smile Lilly threw her arms around her friends shoulders and pulled them close for the rest of the ride. As they rolled into the station they gathered their things and followed the line of students exiting the train, Lilly let Hedwig out of her cage so she could fly to the owlery then carted her trunk next to everyone elses; Tom informed her that the castles house elves would take care the luggage later.

As the trio tried to figure out what to do next they heard a bellowed,

"Firs' years teh me! Firs' Years tehyme!" Turning to face a giant of a man Lilly's eyes widened in shock, the hairy man was more intimidating than Vernon could ever have hoped to be,

_"No way in hell I could burn that guy to death though, he could use me as a toothpick!"_ Tom broke out into laughter at this,

_"Dearest heart why is your immediate response to new experiences always 'Burn it?' I'm not judging mind you I just find it amusing,"_ Lilly mentally shrugged,

_"If all else fails burn it, if that doesn't work blow it up, if that doesn't work use more boom, boom solves everything,"_ Tom snickered shaking his head,

_"Love you spend far too much time with your Aunt Bella,"_ Lilly just 'hmm'd' at that, she disagreed completely, Aunt Bella time was time well spent, approaching the giant man she curtsied to him, no reason to be rude.

"Hello sir, I'm Lilly Potter," the enormous man's face burst into a massive grin that immediately put her to ease and his jovial laughter made her feel bad about contemplating catching him on fire.

"Li'l Lilly! By Merlin you look like teh perfec' li'l mix of yer mum and dad!" Eyes widening she whispered,

"You knew mum and dad?" Grinning even wider he very gently patted her on her head, it was so oddly comforting to have someone many would look at as a monster treating her like a porcelain doll, it felt...good for some reason.

"Aye that I did little on', how about we meet fer tea some time and I ca' tell ya some stories?" Lilly grinned and nodded at this, he smiled in return then escorted the group of first years to a dock lined with small boats.

"Four ta a boat, no mor' than tha' unless yea' wanna fall in!" Taking his advice to heart the trio entered a boat already occupied by a mocca skinned boy, his intelligent near gold eyes assessing them. Lilly nodded to the boy smiling,

"Hello, I'm Lillith, these are my friends Hermione and Draco," eyeing them suspiciously he nodded slowly,

"Blaise, pleasure," his gaze was cold and calculating, his tone held no emotion, an observer then, might be best to acquire him early,

"We're all going to Slytherin, we have it on good authority that we're going to make a bit of a splash, you don't need to make any decisions now but I offer an open invitation to discuss a mutually beneficial relationship at a later date." The boys assessing gaze focused on her, and after a few moments he smirked,

"Very well then," eventually the boats cast off and Lilly distracted herself from her nervous jitters by performing complex arthimancy in her head, it was a trick Aunt Andi had taught her to mess with anyone trying to read your thoughts but it did wonders as a calming technique as well. Glancing up as Hermione grasped her hand tightly Lilly's eyes widened as she got her first look of the castles lights across the lake, Draco surprised her by quietly murmuring,

"Beautiful..." She couldn't help but agree, as they reached the far docks the children disembarked, as they milled about before the castles gates several ghosts buzzed above them. Many of the students screamed but much to her satisfaction Draco simply scoffed and Hermione raised a single brow, Tom groaned,

_"I KNEW it, that was so totally planned they did the same thing to us!"_ Lilly was a bit amused at how cross he seemed by such a simple thing but decided not to share that, Tom could get a bit sulky and if the voices in your head stop responding to you it gets a bit lonely. The group approached a very stern looking woman, she looked severely at the group and introduced herself as dad's playful rival to the house cup Professor McGonagall. As the graying woman explained the house system her green eyes met Lilly's and she felt a sharp jolt, frowning a bit she broke the gaze and shook her head.

_"The hell was that?!_" Lilly spat out to Tom, he seemed a bit contemplative for a few seconds before replying,

_"That sort of connection is usually due to blood, I'd make it a point to meet up with her at a later date, that old bastard has kept you so ignorant of the past that she might be a relative that was insulated from you,"_ growling at the mere mention of the Headmaster Lilly silently nodded her acknowledgment. She followed her classmates and sat huddled with them as they were brought into the Great Hall, she looked to the ceiling in awe, the glittering stars seeming to call to her, Hermione caught her eye and gave her a wane smile as she took her best friends hand.

"The enchant is amazing...but I think I prefer the real thing," grinning in return Lilly nodded in agreement,

"What the astronomy tower is for right?" Hermione winked then remained silent as a stool and a tatty old hat were brought out to the floor, the hat began...singing...and goddess was it horrid, eventually Mcgonagall announced they'd have to wear the moth eaten thing to get sorted. Sighing Lilly waited, when the Deputy headmistress called out,

"Granger, Hermione," Lilly held her breath, and much to her amusement the hat was placed on her friends head for less then a second when it yelled out,

"Oh hell, SLYTHERIN!" The hall was silent as the first muggle-born in a century confidently sauntered over to the house of snakes table smirking and completely ignoring the hateful glares from her new housemates and the horrified looks of the professors. Neville ended up in Gryffindor, good for him really, and of course Draco went into Slytherin, then the moment of truth occured,

"Potter, Lillith!" Marching forward she ignored all the whispers and gasps, the sheep asking where her scar and glasses were (glasses? The hell?) and she took a seat on the stool keeping her face completely composed. Fiddling with the head of house ring she'd kept in her pocket until this point she slipped it on her finger and felt the castles magic pulse around her, grinning as she saw the Headmaster blanch as he lost control of the wards she kept her head bowed down to avoid notice, soon the hat was placed on her head and she thought out,

"You may verbalize this, I do not wish to hide the process from the other students," nonplussed the hat was about to argue before she snapped out, "Do _not_ question me Archimedes." The hat seemed to gasp before it cleared its throat for the entire hall to hear,

"Let's see, much bravery and courage, after surviving your childhood with those horrible muggles I'm not shocked at that," the staff shifted about uncomfortably as they glared at the Headmaster who up to this point had remained quiet, the hat continued unabated. "Deathly loyal to your friends and family, you'd gladly kill to protect those you consider your own," Professor Sprout and the other Hufflepuff's became alert at this but the hat wasn't nearly finished yet. "Keenly intelligent, knowledge is your power and you use it as Thor wielded Mjolnir striking down those in your way," Professor Flitwick smiled at that, just like her mother. "But your cunning, oh your guile, you are just like your mother in so many ways, and as the Lady of your house it's only fitting you should be placed in SLYTHERIN!"

Smirking she stood as the hall went as quiet as a sepulcher, gliding on silent feet she feigned ignorance as her black school robes shifted to sage green with silver piping and trim, Slytherin house's crest formed on her left breast as the combined Potter/Black appeared on her right. Stopping before Hermione and Draco she turned to the rest of the house as all eyes were on her, this was the power play, this would decide everything. Throwing herself into her ever present rage she focused on her life before the good days, what the Dursley's had done to her, the horrors she had to endure, the pain, the suffering, the absolute aloneness and fed it into her frozen fury. Hoarfrost formed around her feet as the enchanted ceiling fluctuated, the candles dimmed nearly losing their light and the very atmosphere seemed to freeze solid. As her obsidian/emerald gaze met each of the snakes of Slytherin she spoke loud enough for only them to hear,

"No one touches what is mine," she glanced to Hermione and Draco before continuing drawing every latent joule and BTU of energy into herself, "Are we clear?" Thoroughly cowed the house of Slytherin nodded in horrified sync, suddenly as if there had not been a goddess walking amongst them a moment earlier Lilly grinned happily, "Brilliant!" She stated before releasing her anger lightening the room instantly. She then sat next to her friends and promptly ignored the rest of the ceremony until Blaise was placed in her house, he cautiously made his way to their group before sitting across from Lillith, the Headmaster made some asinine speech about avoiding certain death if they went to the third floor corridor but she wasn't paying attention to that. She was observing her fellow students, the ginger prat, Don, Ren...Ron? Was glaring at her and the rest of the Gryffindor's outside of the twins seemed to be in a state of shock, this was altogether amusing, glancing up to the head table she noticed her dad hiding a smile and the headmaster giving her a disapproving look.

Bringing her hatred for the man to the forefront of her mind she met his gaze evenly and unknowingly sported a sadistic grin when he reeled back in shock, legilimency was a bitch when you trawled about without permission. Digging into her dinner she began chatting with her fellow housemates, most of them were giving her either fearful, hateful, or contemplative looks, she filed that all away for tomorrow, honestly the only lesson they needed to learn at the moment was to leave Hermione alone, she had seven years to get everything else underway. As the feast was finished she followed the prefect down to the dungeons, she hadn't caught his name before but as they stopped at a dead end he addressed the group with a bit of stiff arrogance,

"The password to enter the dormitories will change at random, it is your responsibility to check the board every morning for changes, the current password is 'Pure-blood' so if-" Lilly walked past the boy and stared at the snake head ornament above the hidden door,

"_Open"_ she hissed, the stone snake bowed and the door slid aside, Draco, Hermione, and much to her surprise and pleasure Blaise followed her through the doorway, she promptly turned around and smirked at the terrified house of Slytherin, "_Clossse" _she hissed again as the door slammed in their faces. Before the rest of her house could enter she buried her head in Hermione's shoulder and laughed, hard, harder then she ever had before, goddess she was looking forward to the next seven years.

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><p><strong>Go big or go home, The Lady of Slytherin will have her way, hehe, hope you enjoyed, please review!<strong>

**Edit-Note, fixed a few typos and wanted to clarify Lilly's not going to become a Mary Sue, incredibly powerful heiress to several Ancient and Noble Lines? Yes. Infallible and indestructible? No.**


	7. Chapter 7- Asserting Dominance

**This is what I like to call a 'Bridging' chapter, not much happens but it needed to be written ergo I got it out of the way as soon as possible, for the most part I wanted to set the tone of Lilly's average morning so I wouldn't have to repeat the process down the line. I know its a bit of a let down but really I personally hate it when authors pad their word count by going over the same tripe chapter to chapter, or (and this really pisses me off) quote directly from the source material for paragraphs on end. Anyway, the next chapter will be a condensed version of the next two months leading to Halloween so look forward to it, and as always REVIEW!**

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><p>Severus Snape was in short highly amused at the moment, according to a report from one of the house elves Lilly had taken over the dormitory for a short while to allow her chosen favorites to claim their rooms and ward them than had of course acted as if nothing happened. The prefects were at a loss as what to do because literally <em>everything<em> in the dungeons obeyed her, so they'd taken the logical course of action and pretended the eleven year old girl hadn't run roughshod over them and sent her to his office.

Now though was the staff meeting that'd he'd been both expecting and dreading since that dark day five years ago, Albus Dumbledore was pacing behind his desk as his heads of house watched him warily, Severus met Minerva's gaze and she quirked a brow at him. This was a massive show of emotion for the stoic woman so he decided to one up her and allow the corner of his mouth to form a smile, her eyes widened as she broke the staring contest and refocused on the headmaster.

"I am deeply concerned about young Miss Potter, I had hoped she would come here eager to learn after spending most of her childhood with her muggle family yet she's behaving disturbingly like another orphaned student from the past." Severus deserved an acting award of some sort for remaining quiet and stoic, really calling those..._things_ family, than going so far as to thinly compare her to The Dark Lord? Disgusting, it was almost as if we was chiding her for being orphaned, Filius coughed to get everyone's attention,

"You all heard the hat, "_Surviving her childhood with those horrible muggles?_" I'm thinking there is more going on here than there appears to be Albus." Dumbledore gave the diminutive professor a condescending smile as he waved his hand,

"Oh I'm sure that was simple hyperbole dear boy her family was perfectly suitable to take care of her I assure you," before the now riled dueling master could retort Minerva exploded hitting the headmaster with her double-barreled Scottish brogue.

"Oh _really_ Albus? Wasn't I the one that warned you they were the very worst of muggles, that they shouldn't be allowed their own son much less the daughter of my great-nephew and his wonderful wife, both of which were the best students I'd had in _decades_?!" Her accent was getting to the point that one would need a knife to cut through it, "The hat sees through all glamours, obliviations, and even the Imperious curse, if it said it happened it BLOODY WELL HAPPENED! Now you are going to find out exactly what events occurred that led to my great-grandniece seeking solace in _Slytherin_ or I will personally tear that ridiculous beard from your face and get the answers MYSELF!"

Truth be told Severus held no ire towards her for that, after all she _was_ right and he was quite inclined to see her go through with her threat, Albus was blanching as he stared down the Scottish apocalypse so it was probably for the best that Ponoma spoke out.

"That girl exudes confidence and her gaze...did any of you actually look her in the eye? There is pain, and anger so so much anger in those young eyes, I don't know what she's been through but it wasn't pleasant." Dumbledore sighed again as he resumed pacing,

"I assure all of you that she had a perfectly safe and normal childhood, I prepared everything so she'd grow up outside of the limelight and away from those that wished her harm," Severus tried, he really did but he couldn't reign in his sneer as he spat out,

"Oh? That is why you stuck her with Lily's vile bigoted sister that was so horrible that she had all but disowned her and stated that she was to never be within FIFTY METERS of her child at any time?!" The room went silent as all eyes fell on him, Severus knew he was risking years of planning but the insufferable man before him was touching off on every raw nerve he'd been nursing since October 31 1981. Minerva finally spoke,

"Severus, what do you mean?" Sneering in a manner that would have your average first year running in terror he spat out,

"Petunia is the worst possible example of humanity, Lily tried so hard to reconcile with her but she despised magic, she despised her sister being prettier than her, for being smarter, for being gifted, for being _different;_ the last time Lily tried to make peace with her the crazy bint tried to _stab_ her with a kitchen knife. _That_ is who the illustrious Headmaster left our savior with when he ditched the child on her doorstep with nothing more then a blanket and note demanding that she care for the child '_or else._'" There was a pause before Albus stated,

"I did what was best for us all, now we need to discuss where the girl learned such a strong illusion charm," this non sequitor actually managed to throw the four heads of house, Filius looked his years at the moment as he took his glasses off to rub his eyes.

"What illusion charm Albus..." The headmaster for his part gave the half goblin another condescending smile,

"Well what she did in the great hall of course," Severus was beside himself, really, she openly (and rather foolishly in his opinion but she _was_ eleven) displayed the focusing power of a High Lady and he thought it was a bloody illusion? He mulled that over a moment and decided to take a page out of Sirius' book and simply roll with it,

"We'll look into it headmaster, I'm sure her prat of a father left her notes or the like," yes, play up the hatred for James, it seemed to appease Albus but the other heads of house gave him appraising glances, likely due to the lack of vitriol. The meeting adjourned for the time being accomplishing absolutely nothing other then postponing meeting their new first years until tomorrow, heading for the dungeons Severus shook his head in disgust sending his long ponytail wagging.

Minerva McGonogall was many many things but stupid was not one of them, she realized something was going on with her great-grandniece the moment she met her eyes before the castles gates. her entire demeanor was that of someone playing a part, not that of a carefree youngster just being introduced to the world of magic, and her instincts told her Severus knew something about it. So using her half century of knowledge of the school she used several hidden passages to make her way down to the dungeons before him, shifting to her cat form she crawled through one of the many air exchange slits cut through the castles walls until she had a view of the Potions Master's office.

Sitting on his desk poking through a dish of nuts was a small juvenile raven, cocking her feline head to the side she had to admit confusion, Severus was not one for pets. After a few minutes the man in question entered the room and locked the door, she had to truly restrain herself when the raven shifted into a grinning little girl sitting cross legged on the desk. Severus rather than acting surprised smirked at the child,

"Lillith I'll have you know you've caused all sorts of trouble for me tonight," the child, her family by blood frowned,

"Did I get you in trouble with the old bastard Daddy?" Daddy...DADDY?! What the hell?! Severus shook his head and sat in his chair, he was promptly pounced on by the little girl who curled up in his lap, he called for a house elf to bring her some hot chocolate and once done he began stroking her hair as she happily downed the beverage.

"No dear, he was trying to convince everyone how the Dursley's were caring people who had your best interests at heart." The little girl stiffened, the room stilled and she distinctly felt the temperature drop significantly, Lillith's eyes seemed to darken as a frown creased her smooth brow,

"How the hell is getting abused and violated in my best interest?" She asked coldly, Minerva felt her heart seize, violated? What? Her little niece was abused by the family she'd allowed that old fool leave her with? Minerva felt her world view begin to crack as Severus sighed,

"Honey," he began as he pulled her into a hug that she melted into, "I don't think he's even aware that the Dursley's are long dead, I honestly walked away from the meeting with more questions then when I entered that office, rest assured though the old fool still has no idea you're no longer with them." Lilly let out a mirthless laugh,

"No doubt, if he knew his weaponized little girl was being raised to think for herself I'm sure he'd have an aneurysm..." they sat in silence for a few minutes as she remained curled on the professors lap, eventually she sighed in contentment and the room warmed again. "I cowed most of the snakepit into submission, they won't be touching Hermione or Draco, I also made a new friend, Blaise Zabini." Severus twitched an eyebrow up at that,

"The son of the 'Black Widow'? Brave of you little one," she snorted and smacked his head very lightly in a playful manner,

"Don't be a prat daddy he's quite nice, anyway dominance is established for the time being, how much leeway do I have?" At this point he picked her up and placed her on the desk so he could pace around a bit,

"Oh quite a bit, he's convinced you focusing your magical core was some sort of illusion charm," Minerva was glad her cat form couldn't laugh because the offended look the child sported at that was priceless.

"Ill...Illusion charm?! I...grrr...UGGHH! That man!" Chuckling at his daughters indignation he stroked her hair a few times before patting her shoulder,

"Get some sleep dear, do you need escorted back to the dorms?" She nodded as she hopped off the desk finished her cocoa and placing the mug down,

"Yeah your prefects forced me to come here, apparently hanging out with my dad is a severe punishment," he laughed, Severus _laughed_ at this,

"Give it a few years and I'm sure you will view it that way, come along than tomorrow may be the weekend but I'm sure you'll have a full day." As they were leaving the room Minerva caught the last bit of their conversation,

"Oh right I met this adorkable boy on the train, Neville Longbottom, apparently his grandmother is forcing him to use his dads wand despite it being mismatched, can we take him to Diagon Alley tomorrow?" She didn't hear Severus' response but she really didn't need to, padding back to her own chambers the aged deputy headmistress let out a vexed sigh as she retook her human form. There was much _much_ more going on then met the eye and she was going to demand some answers soon.

The next morning Lilly awoke in her four poster bed groggily rubbing her eyes, sitting upright she removed the silencing and sealing enchants from her curtains and swung her feet out onto the floor. Stretching and yawning while scratching her belly in a very ladylike fashion (i.e. not even bothering) she hopped up and checked the small wolf shaped alarm clock her Aunt Bella had made her for her ninth birthday. Aunt Bella was always making neat inventions, this one in particular would show the lunar cycle and had a measuring system to see how grouchy Uncle Moony would be on that particular day, it was an odd little knik knak but so was her favorite aunt. Seeing that it was six on a Saturday Lilly took it for granted that she'd have no fight over the dormitory washroom, gathering her toiletries she padded past the other three beds in the room making sure not to awake her dorm mates.

In the end there were six other girls in her year not counting Hermione, the room they'd claimed was shared by Daphne Greengrass and Tracey Davies both from dark gray families who had remained staunchly neutral in the last war. It really worked out for her since their families leaned more towards Grindelwald's philosophy rather than Voldemort's (as far as she was concerned Tom and Voldy were separate entities) which was muggle-born's were a gift that should not be taken for granted and brought into their world with open arms. If that required conquering the muggle world well, so be it, Empress Lillith Slytherin had a bit of a ring to it anyhow, musing on the pros and cons of all out war she tossed her pajamas aside and turned on the shower. Waiting for it to heat up she quickly brushed her teeth and combed the tangles out of her long hair, hopping in the shower she absently began singing '_We Will Rock You' _to Tom's amusement, he thought it was rather cute how she picked up some of his quirks.

After luxuriating under the heat for a bit longer then necessary she hit herself with some drying charms and threw on a dressing robe, reentering her dorm she sifted through her clothes until she found her favorite full length skirt, sliding the black garment on she chose a navy blue blouse to go with it. Throwing on some socks and slipping into her flats she walked out of the dorm absently twirling her wand whistling the Imperial March, Tom teasingly asked her why she was in such a particularly militant mood this morning but she really didn't have an answer for him. Entering the common room she began her first thorough investigation of the open space chamber, the snake motif was admittedly quite overdone, and while green was her favorite color there was such a thing as too much of a good thing.

The room had three hearths, each with a wide chute above them leading to the surface, plush rugs covered the floors aside for a meter around said hearths and the walls were lined with various couches, love-seats, and large overstuffed chairs. The wall directly opposite from the entrance door was covered in bookshelves housing some rather questionably legal tomes, Hermione was going to squee when she fully realized what they had available to them, browsing the books she barked out a laugh when one caught her eye. Taking down 'So you want to be a Dark Lord? The ins and outs of playing the Ministry,' she curled up cross legged on one of the chairs and began reading, eventually other students began filtering in almost all of them eyeing her suspiciously which was to be expected honestly. Ignoring her future minions for the time being Lilly focused on the rather humorously written how to guide, the author had a quirky sense of humor as he went into detail on how best to collect blackmail material on ministry officials, after a time she heard a cough and glanced up to see her pet Malfoy standing before her.

"Morning Draco, how are you doing on this fine Saturday?" Smiling in return he shrugged a bit, he was wearing a pair of slacks and a white button down with a blue tie and thankfully had forgone the hair gel, he was far cuter with his hair down.

"It's turning out to be rather...interesting, no one quite knows what to make of you and in return us, I'm shocked you left Hermione on her own truth be told," she shrugged at that as she stuck a scrap of parchment into the book to mark her place.

"I can't hold her hand for the next seven years and she's far from incapable of taking care of herself, she has after all been receiving training from Aunt's Bella, Andi, and Cissy for the past year, Uncle Sirius and Moony too when they aren't being dragged off to the Wizengamot for that weeks catastrophe in the making. She'll be fine, and if she is in trouble the castle will warn me, being a founders heir has its perks after all." He nodded at that but refrained from replying as Blaise approached them, nodding to the dark skinned Italian Draco stepped aside so Lilly could get to her feet, standing up she grinned at the boy and gave him a lazy wave.

"Morning Blaise, once Hermione gets down here feel up to breaking your fast with us?" He returned the smile and nodded without verbally replying, she noted that he'd gone with the school uniform for today but hadn't bothered with the robes, after a few minutes her best friend finally made her appearance, like Lilly she was dressed in a simple skirt and blouse though she'd gone with white and lavender.

"Morning Lilly, boys, ready?" Nodding to the brunette the she led her little group up several flights of stairs, Draco kept shooting her odd looks as if trying to figure out a puzzle, as they were approaching the Great Hall he said,

"Ah ha, that's whats different, you didn't cover your scar with makeup today," shooting him a knowing grin she nodded in return,

"Yup, figure I'm going to go without a few times a month to make it clear I'm," she sighed deeply and made finger quotes, "The-Girl-Who-Lived' and I'm in fact quite happy not being a Gryffindor, now will the sheep pick up on it? I have no idea, but it doesn't take any extra effort on my part so why not." The other three nodded in understanding as they sat at their table, the other Slytherin's gave them wary looks but soon returned to their own meals as the quartet cheerfully bantered with each other.

Blaise noted how Lilly and Hermione were quick to finish each other's sentences and they'd occasionally gang up on Draco, but the second it would have been too much for the boy they'd pull back giggling causing the blonde to blush and than the cycle would repeat. They brought Blaise into the conversation when he showed interest but largely respected his silence, it was...a new experience for the boy, usually in both the Italian and British upper circles he was forced to interact regardless. Being given a choice and having it taken into active consideration by his peers was...nice, he liked it a lot; Lilly had made some off color comment about blood purity equating to flammability causing poor Draco to sputter when they were addressed by their head of house.

"Potter, Granger, Zabini, Malfoy, your schedules for this term," thanking the Professor Blaise allowed his eyes to widen a bit when Lilly groaned in despair, he noticed Professor Snape gave her an ever so slight smirk at her antics, "Is there a problem Miss Potter?" She began rubbing her temples furiously,

"We have potions with the Gryffindor's, the one topic that is an exact science and art, were one stir in the wrong direction can change a healing salve into a _bomb_ and we have to share it with the rudding house of the brain dead." Draco snickered at that while Hermione patted her back with a knowing look of shared pain on her face, the Professor for his part snorted,

"Quite, the Headmaster has this ongoing ideal that if he keeps forcing the two houses together they will eventually end centuries of rivalry, it could be worse though Hufflepuffs go through more cauldrons a month then the Lions do in a year." Lilly shuddered a bit at that and bade the professor fare well, as she began poking around her food Blaise met Hermione's gaze with a questioning look, she smirking a bit and rolled her eyes.

"Potions is Lilly's favorite subject next to Defense Against the Dark Arts, she's just a bit miffed that she'll have to actively avoid sabotage and idiocy in a subject that usually puts her in a Zen state." Titling his head a fraction he asked,

"Zen?" She smiled and took a sip of her juice before replying,

"A state of complete peace and contentment, and after the death glares she was getting from them at the sorting I wouldn't be shocked if we got to see a full Lilly meltdown before the end of the year," rather then disagreeing Lilly sharply nodded once her agreement to the statement quite clear. After the meal Lilly excused herself and made her way to the Gryffindor table, gaping he turned to the girls friends who both smirked, before anything could be said Draco just titled his goblet towards the girls back.

"Don't mind her, she's networking," as Lilly approached the Gryff's table the hall went into silence as she gracelessly plopped down next to Neville who was eating alone looking a bit miserable, before any of the glaring Lion's could say anything she chirped out,

"Heyya Nev, congrat's on getting into the house you wanted, told you you were brave enough to make the cut," turning to face down the rest of the now confused table she raised her voice while waving, "Fred, George, looking sharp! Exactly how many ties do you two own?" Grinning in return the twins nodded and replied as one,

"Wouldn't you like to know," snorting in amusement she turned back to Neville as the Lions tried to process this strange interaction, she didn't have much hope that their collective could reach consensus anytime soon so she took a page from Uncle Lucius and simply ignored their existence.

"So I talked to Professor Snape and he'll be taking us to Diagon Alley after breakfast to get you your own wand, I suggest you keep the hand-me-down your gran forced on you so she's none the wiser when you go home for the holidays." As observant as she tended to be Lilly hadn't noticed that several of the Gryffindor's were listening in on their conversation,

"Th-thanks, I was kind of worried you'd change your mind with the whole...you know, Slytherin and Gryffindor thing," she snorted at this while rolling her eyes,

"Nev for crying out loud if Slytherin and Gryffindor never got along how in Morgana's name did they work together to build this school? I made you a promise and I befriended you on the train I'm not going to abandon you because we're color coded now." That got a bit of a laugh out of the Longbottom heir, he scratched his head a bit before admitting the next part,

"The thing is, I can't rightly pay for the wand, I have money obviously but when gran gets the statement well..." smirking Lilly placed a small leather pouch in front of him,

"Don't worry about the money, I'm the heiress of three rudding Ancient and Nobel houses, even with just the trust vaults I have more money then I know what to do with and if that means helping friends with essential school supplies well, so be it." She lifted her hand to stall his denial, "And, if you refuse to accept it as a gift I'll take it on your word that you'll pay me back once you reach your age of majority, no debts or any of that tripe, I just want to help." Smiling at her with growing affection Neville gently picked of the pouch and rolled it in the palm of his hand,

"Thanks Lilly I...this means a lot to me," winking she stood and gave him a brief curtsy,

"When you're ready to head to the Alley meet me at the Slytherin table all right? Take care!" With that she gave him a jaunty wave and walked back across the hall, before he could return to his meal Ron snapped out,

"I can't believe you're talking to that slimy snake, she's a traitor that's what she is! Why I bet her parents are rolling in their graves knowing that they died for a bloody Slytherin, wh-" he was cut off by Neville grabbing his tie and pulling him in close, glaring at the startled boy Neville asked,

"Ronald?" Sputtering the redhead finally got out,

"Wh-what?" Grinning in the manner his gran did when she had to deal with solicitors he only let it widen as the boy paled,

"Shut it."

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><p><strong>I love Neville, expect him to develop a big brother bond with Lilly very soon, Harry ignored the poor bloke for years and he turned into a badass, what happens when that spark is properly cultivated by the scheming Lillith?<strong>


	8. Chapter 8- Who ya gonna call?

**So I stand corrected, the first week was much like the first day, it took way more time to get through it than I anticipated, don't worry I plan on burning through first year fairly quickly, and just as an aside so you all know it beforehand while 'A Black Halloween" will have a massive plot bomb in second year and largely ignore third 'The Lady of Slytherin' will be the direct opposite, outside of Lockheart, thats...not something I'm looking forward to writing but it's necessary for the Dark Lady. Anyway I'm sorry it isn't what was promised I just hope it holds up to your standards, enjoy and REVIEW!**

**Oh, a bit more humor in this one just because Lilly is cleaning house and she relies on unconventional people, I hope you all forgive that I have a hard time torturing little girls, (see what I did there? Can't disagree without looking like a creeper, I win!)**

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><p>It was at lunch time that a chattering Lillith and slightly bemused Neville returned to the great hall, the unicorn hair cherry wand slowly spinning between his fingers as Lilly gushed at him her enthusiasm causing him to blush a bit as students looked their way.<p>

"It's so cool that you got a thirteen incher, as phalic as that may sound, the arthimatic equations alone dictate you have great potential just by that alone! Now remember you have to keep the thing polished and in good care they're semi sentient so they get a bit pissy if neglected, the fact that it literally flew off the shelf at you implies a deep bond, so cool!" Still blushing Lilly bade him farewell and he returned to his own table as she skipped over to the Slytherin's unceremoniously shoving herself between Blaise and Hermione.

"Lillith," Blaise acknowledged with a smile, Lilly grinned at him and nodded as Draco and Hermione also greeted her, she began throwing together a sandwich when Hermione cleared her throat to get her attention. Looking up she met the warm brown eyes of her best friend and cocked her head to the side, the brunette than spoke in low tones,

"What was all that with Neville, I know you wanted to get him in your pocket but you seemed more enthused than necessary," smirking Lilly took a bite out of her ham and tomato sandwich. After chewing a bit she swallowed than replied,

"It ends up Neville is my godbrother, his mum was my godmother and my mum was his, we got to talking and it ends up we're also cousins by blood rather than marriage, it's kind of cute that he's suddenly being a bit protective of me. So I have to keep an eye out for him, no one hurts my family...no one." With that she tore into the rest of her sandwich with gusto then chased it with a goblet of juice before blanching, "Freaking pumpkin juice...haven't these people heard of apples? Ugh..."

As the weekend sped by and her house warmed to her slightly Lilly had her first class in the magical world, it ended up each period was a combined course with one of the other houses and more often than not Slytherin was paired with Gryffindor. Now, her Maruader side, the one that enjoyed a bit of chaos found this amusing, the part of her that was a brutally pragmatic Dark Lady in the making found it very trying.

As they followed Professor Sprout's instructions on dealing with the weeds from hell a few things became apparent, as intelligent and cunning as Draco and Blaise were, plants trumped them, and as awkward as Neville could be he was born with a green thumb. So breaking off from the other snakes she partenered up with her god brother and the small blonde girl working with him, after a time the bespectacled Gryffindor cleared her throat and addressed Lilly.

"So, I have to ask, why is it that everyone seems to hold so much reverence for you?" Staring the girl down a moment Lilly shrugged than clarified if the girl was muggle-born or not, getting an affirmative she then explained the wizarding wars and her supposed part in it; after she finished the blonde remained quiet as they continued to prepare the planting bed. After a time she asked,

"So let me get this straight, wizard Hitler apprenticed wizard Stalin to himself during World War II, wizard Hitler was than defeated by a guy who was a combination Wizard Churchill and Nelson who also happens to be our Headmaster. Than wizard Stalin tries to start a genocidal revolution and ends up dying after murdering your parents and now everyone thinks you're wizard Jesus and they haven't grasped the fact you resent it yet?" Lillith stared at her blankly for a few seconds than promptly fell on her backside laughing, the rest of the class watched her in confusion as she completely lost control of her facilities.

After a time she pulled herself together and a concerned Draco and Hermione made their way to their friend and helped her back to her feet, still giggling she offered her hand to the blonde girl,

"You I like, I'm Lillith Dorea Potter, but please call me Lilly," the blonde shook the offered hand while smiling in return,

"Sally-Anne Perks, please just call me Sally," with that they finished their project with Neville and went their own ways promising to keep in touch, Lilly's afternoon class ended up being History of Magic with the Ravenclaws and it was soon to be a proven waste of time. Lilly listened to Binns drone on for roughly twenty minutes before she let out an ear piercing screech. As her startled classmates watched her bug-eyed she jammed her books back into her bag and threw it over her shoulder, she marched out leaving the bewildered class behind.

Making her way up to the owlery she greeted Hedwig who affectionately nipped at her ear, Lilly quickly wrote several notes to the Board of Governors and one to her Aunt Bella,

"_Dearest Auntie Bella, _

_I hope this Letter finds you well, my first few days at Hogwarts have been memorable if nothing else, the problem I am running into is that the Headmaster has seen it fit to allow a ghost of all things to teach a class on history. I am as aware as you are of how lax things are in the magical world so I was wondering if you had any suggestions on how to exorcise the good Professor because the very idea of spending the next seven years with him 'Teaching' sends me into fits of despair._

_ Yours Truly,_

_ Lilly Potter_

_P.S. If I don't hear from you within the week I'm burning the school down."_

Letters finished she gave them to her stalwart companion and she took off into the skies, after cleaning the ink from her hands she hit the library to grab the books on the subject they were _supposed_ to be covering that day and crashed in the Slytherin common room. That's how her classmates found her an hour and a half later, most of the first years surrounded her and just stared at the girl who was busily scribbling notes on parchment, after an uncomfortable silence a dark haired boy spoke up.

"What, was that all about? You cost us five points you know," not looking up Lilly kept on scribbling as she responded,

"This schools fixation on a paperweight that signifies nothing more than an arbitrary desire to please ones teachers is honestly a rather enlightening indicator of what is inherently broken in our society." The children around her shared looks of confusion when Tom sighed out,

_"Lilly, love, you can't just assume these kids are going to grasp what you're getting at, just hit them with the blunt stick and move on before they do something stupid, like try to provoke you._" Humming to the voice in her head she met the boys gaze,

"Name?" He had a ...well she'd call it a constipated look on his face when he replied,

"Theodore Nott," nodding she dipped her quill back in its ink pot and continued with her history notes,

"I wrote several letters to the Board of Governors and the Minister of Magic to get Binns sacked, there is no way a ghost is qualified to teach us up to OWL much less NEWT standards, and if that fails I'm going to exorcise him, I'm paying a premium to go to this school so I refuse to waste my time and money on a sleep period." Now completely ignoring her classmates (outside of her three friends who all looked amused) she continued writing her notes before huffing. Looking back up at the group she groused, "What?!" A pair of redheaded twin girls stepped forward, the Carrow's if she remembered correctly, one of them spoke up,

"So you left because you found the teaching wanting?" Looking at the serious faced girls a moment she nodded,

"Yeah, I than hit the library and grabbed the books that we were supposed to be covering in the syllabus," the sisters shared a look and in unison stated,

"Thank Merlin," and promptly plopped down on either side of her, exchanging a bemused look with Hermione she than met the gaze of both twins,

"Just call me Lilly, err, you two are?" The original speaker blushed a bit,

"I'm Hestia," her sister nodded as she replied,

"Flora," grinning at the sisters as Blaise, Draco, and Hermione sat down with them she pulled out a fresh sheet of parchment,

"Well, I think we can all agree that Goblin rebellions in the seventh century will not be on the OWL's so how about we dig into how their economic manipulations led to the colonies getting a Gringotts loan in 1776 after declaring their independence?" Lilly was exstatic, it ended up that the Carrow twins were similar to their Weasley counterparts, but rather than pranksters they were bibliophiles like Hermione but with all the knowledge of those raised in a pure-blood household.

So the group penned notes on what was actually going to be on the end of term exams and eventually Lilly followed the Carrow's to dinner and got into a rather in depth conversation with the pair on wizarding politics. It honestly amused both Tom and herself how quickly others followed their lead, but at least those they acquired early on would be more inclined to carry on with their plans to their eventual ends. Tuesday brought more Herbology with the Lions, Sally and Nev brought cupcakes so they munched on the chocolaty goodness as they mulled over the best way to cultivate devils snare, none of the trio actually _wanted_ to be anywhere near the strangling vines but they weren't exactly given a choice.

Defense Against the Dark Arts had them paired with the Hufflepuff's, this was the class Lilly was looking forward to more than anything, and she was quickly shown that her expectations were far higher than Hogwarts could support. She'd shared a desk with another fair faced redhead, one Susan Bones who Lilly was quite inclined to make friends with since her guardian was the head of the DMLE and she wanted to follow in her footsteps. The other snakes might make noise about the decision but having a friend with the bobbies could only benefit her and her minions when she began her insurrection.

Unfortunately as things ended up Professor Quirrell was in short, useless, his stuttering proved to be so bad that even Hermione couldn't keep notes, it was like watching a train wreck in slow motion, not to mention the minor headache she picked up from just being in his general vicinity. On their way back to their dorms the Slytherin quartet remained silent before Blaise snapped out,

"Is it just me or has this entire school proven to be completely worthless so far?" Draco sighed as he swept a hand through his hair,

"You're not wrong, Father's been saying that the course work has gone down hill since Dumbledore took over, we've had two days of classes so far and all I've learned is that Devils's Snare doesn't like light. I mean really, how is that even remotely helpful?" The others 'hmm'd' in agreement before they retired for the evening. Wednesday brought more herbology,

_"What the hell is with this schools obsession with herbology?!"_ She seethed to Tom who actually had nothing to add since he was in complete agreement, after basically wasting two hours gossiping with Hermione, Neville, and Sally they once again went their separate ways. Astronomy went as could be expected, they looked at stars, they wrote out charts, they got very cold, and they went to bed, thus far the only thing she could say about Hogwarts was that it was a bloody disappointment.

Thursday proved her wrong though, it ended up that not only was Professor Flitwick adorably funsize he was also a Dueling Master, and while he was a bit over excitable she found out after class that he was just startled how much she looked like her mother. After getting a promise from him that he'd tell her anything he could about her mum she met up with her friends in the transfiguration classroom, as she entered there was a cool eyed tabby cat survaying the room.

Her instincts, which were becoming more avian inclined every time she took her raven form were screaming at her to run but she told them to shove off. Taking a seat next to Hermione she ignored the cat as she began writing her class outline on a blank parchment, glancing at her schedule she realized that once again she was going to be paired with the Gryffindorks. Grimacing and silently hoping if there was group work she'd get stuck with Neville or Sally she was startled to see the cat morph into Professor McGonogall, the animagus looked about the room cooly and than gave the late arriving Ron Weasley detention, thus far coming to class had been worth it.

After turning a match into a needle, a feat reached by herself, the Carrow twins, Hermione, and Blaise the class ended, that afternoon they met up for their flying course. It was mostly an anticlimactic event, Neville had a bit of a bucking issue with his broom but it didn't do much outside of being annoying for the poor boy. A Slytherin girl she'd largely ignored, one Pansy Parkinson tried mocking him but death glares from the cowardly Lions and half the Snakes shut the cow up quickly, silently putting the girl on her shit list Lilly got to flying. After enjoying a leisurely flight around the Quiditch pitch Lilly made it back to the common room to ditch her school books and went to dinner. Near the end of the meal Hedwig landed before her, handing a plate of greasy bangers over to the owl she read the offered letter,

"_Dearest Little Viper,_

_Don't do anything stupid, we've got this._

_ Love Always,_

_ Auntie Bella"_

Grinning Lilly dug into her dinner with the gusto. Friday proved to be worth the wait, she'd clued her Gryffindor friends in on what to expect in the Potions classroom and how best to react, Neville paired off with Hermione and Lilly hooked up with Sally, Blaise quickly took a seat next to another dark skinned boy, Dean something or other. Draco's face fell into a look of horror then firmed itself into resolve when he realized the only seat left was next to Ronald, Lilly honestly didn't know which boy to feel worse for. With the final bell ringing the door to the room slammed open and her dad swept in, she really needed to get him to teach her the charms he put on his cloak, every time she asked he just smirked and said 'Trade Secret.'

He gave his usual speech which seemed to terrify and or intrigue most of the class, Lilly was just waiting to get started since she'd have to give Sally the ins and out of brewing so the poor girl didn't level the room like a Hufflepuff. Dad threw out a few rather advanced questions at random but they proved a point to those paying attention, any who had positively associated with Lillith were given positive advice on how to find the answers in the future, everyone else lost points. Lilly and Tom grimly smiled as her Cult of Personality formed about her, it truly was good to be the Queen and soon her minions would rely more and more on her,

_"I have to admit little one, while I began recruiting at Hogwarts it wasn't until well into my seventh year, you've beaten me quite spectacularly by achieving so much your first week,"_ grinning down into her cauldron she replied,

_"It's...easy, everyone has expectations for me, either meeting them or breaking them with specific parties endears myself to them, honestly Tom people are like instruments waiting to be played, the trick is finding all the fellow conductors and getting them on your side so they don't acquire them for their own orchastra's."_ Tom was silent for a moment and quietly muttered,

_"Where were you thirty years ago my dear Dark Lady..."_ Blushing deeply she threw herself into brewing the potion trying to hide how pleased that statement made her, she gently stopped Sally as she who was in mid motion.

"No no, porcupine quills have to be added off the flame," Sally looked abashed at that as she turned the heater down,

"Sorry, I was looking at it like cooking and it didn't even register, going to have to break myself from that," Lilly nodded as she tossed the quills in and began stirring.

"Good way to look at brewing honestly just pay attention to the directions and you'll be fine, I'm actually an apprenticed potioneer so this is pretty much remedial work for me, if you have _any_ questions please ask, I'd rather not see my friends get hurt when I can prevent it." Smiling winningly at the ravenette Sally nodded quickly, as class continued on Lilly heard a clattering behind her. Turning around she saw an ashen faced Draco starring at the cauldron in front of Ren...no Ron as a pulsing acid green fluid began to bubble out of it, she barely managed to yell,

"GET DOWN!" As she grabbed Sally and the cauldron tipped over exploding towards the pair, Lilly for reasons she nor Tom could fully understand pulled the muggle-born girl to herself and took the brunt of the searing liquid to her back. This was pure pain, something akin to the cruciatus and while she could push her way through that there was just something about your flesh cooking off your back as it grew snitch sized boils that made one forget about such lessons, her screams of agony probably woke the dead.

As far as her shocked brain could interpret what was going on she'd fallen on the blonde girl who was staring up at her in wonder and horror, dad rushed over bellowing at Ron (good) and for Hermione to get the school nurse, as she began to black out she dimly agreed with her dads yearly rants; eleven year olds really shouldn't be allowed anywhere near cauldron.

She woke up to a dimly lit room that smelled like antiseptics, cracking her eyes fully open she realized she'd been set up in the hospital wing, much to her surprise there were several sleeping figures surrounding the bed, directly to her right were Sally and Neville who were leaning against each other effectively keeping themselves propped up. To her left Hermione and Draco were both leaning on the bed their heads resting in crossed arms, it was fairly obvious they'd been crying, at the foot sitting directly on the bed was a cross legged Blaise also asleep slumped forward snoring gently. Smiling a bit and getting a weird fuzzy feeling in her chest she decided then and there that these five were not minions, they were her equals and she'd do her best to keep them from dying in the coming revolution, shifting back into the blankets Lilly let sleep take her over again, she'd not embarrass her friends by letting them know she'd seen them so vulnerable.

When she awoke in the morning none of her friends were there but that was fine, she just assumed the matron had kicked them out, she knew they'd been there for her and that was all that mattered, eventually said medi-witch babied her and chided her for doing something so dangerous but also conveying the pride she had in the small girl for protecting her fellow students. Lilly shrugged it off, she'd have to find a name for her growing core group of followers, they weren't minions so they deserved to be distinguished from them, she was released from the hospital wing in time for lunch, since it was the weekend she saw no reason to not go fill her grumbling belly.

As she meandered into the great hall she paused mid step as everyone, _everyone_ stopped mid conversation to stare at her, feeling a bit of heat creep up into her cheeks she dropped her head down and quickly made her way over to the Slytherin table and sat next to Draco who immediately threw an arm around her pulling her in close. She let him, she actually melted into it a bit, he smelled like clean soap, sandalwood and slight perspiration, she found she didn't mind the scent in the slightest,

"You had us so worried, please please please don't risk your well being for a Gryffindor again!" She let out a quick laugh at that as she met his gray eyes, there was very real concern there so she decided flippancy was out of the question, shooting her gaze to Hermione and Blaise she realized they were both thinking the same thing. Swallowing the knot that had suddenly formed in her throat she let her head fall on his shoulder and closed her eyes before replying,

"I couldn't let her get hurt like that Little Dragon, I don't know why I just...I just don't like seeing people I like getting hurt...what happened?" At that Blaise, _BLAISE_ growled out,

"Weasley happened, when Draco went to get more supplies the damn fool left the cauldron boiling while he was reading a quiditch magazine, Hermione saw it all," her bushy haired partner in conquest nodded quickly,

"Yes I was actually in the middle of walking over to Draco to warn him when well...boom happened..." Lilly chuckled a bit at that finally opening her eyes, she noticed Draco looked a bit flushed but ignored it,

"And here I thought boom was my friend, did he get in trouble?" There was a disgusted snort to her right, glancing over she noticed Hestia for the first time,

"Professor Snape tried to get the Weasel expelled for criminal negligence but the headmaster blocked it, hell even his brothers weren't protecting him they're all disgusted with his lack of care, potions are bloody dangerous every pure-blood knows that, the fact that he let a fellow student get hurt, much less _you..."_ She sighed as her twin sitting across from her continued, Flora sipped from her goblet as she rolled her eyes,

"As it stands you're in a very interesting position, the entire school respects you for protecting a fellow student, the pure-blood bigots are wondering on your priorities protecting a muggle-born but on that note they're not brave enough to speak it out loud considering the majority of the school is speaking your praises," Lilly...did not know how to process that, eventually she shrugged Draco's arm off and tucked into her lunch, she nodded to the twins than spoke so only their small group could hear her,

"Thanks...thanks for being there for me...I promise I won't do anything so stupid in the future, next time I'll remember I know shield charms..." the five Slytherin's she'd decided were worth her time all smiled at that, after a time Hedwig landed before her. The owl lifted her leg with a parcel and letter attached, removing them she let her feathered friend tear into her lunch as she read the letter,

"_Dearest Little Viper,_

_Pull the pin, throw the grenade, and rejoice!_

_Love Always,_

_Auntie Bella"_

Opening the package she saw a black ball with the Ghostbusters logo painted on it with a ringed pin sticking out of the top, grinning maliciously she had to practically stamp down the maniacal laughter that wanted to burst free, Binns would never see it coming. On Sunday Lilly made her way to the history department and padded through the dust caked reception room and its various disused halls, eventually she found the tarnished plaque displaying Binns name. Cracking the door the heavily rusted hinges creaked in protest but she was on a mission, iron oxide had nothing on her spectral homicide attempt, peaking through the crack she saw the glowing form of Professor Binns staring at his filth caked desk completely unaware of her presence.

Grinning to herself she pulled the pin on Auntie Bella's grenade and tossed it into the room, there was a *pop* and a ear searing cry of agony that dug past her flesh, muscle, bones and marrow, digging right into her soul, than it was gone. Peaking into the room she grinned grimly seeing the glowing blue fluid slopping down the walls, leaving as she had come she eventually found herself whistling a jaunty tune, if some of the muggle-born students wondered why she was so fond of a mid eighties comedy theme song staring Bill Murray well...who was she to ruin a good mystery?

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><p><strong>Taking suggestions on Lilly's Dark Lady name and the her minions, throw it out there and I'll consider it, keeping in mind this is going to turn somewhat Gaelic with the religion like a lot my Potter works (sue me I'm Irish and am intrigued by the old faiths). Just lemme know at the end of your reviews or send PM's, we've got a bit of time before it all starts coalescing anyhow. <strong>


	9. Chapter 9- Now I am invisible, Ho Ho Ho

**I normally don't update so quickly but I had legitimate fun writing this one, I hope you all enjoy, also I think reviewer ****Amber Talamasca won out with the 'Unseelie Court', I'd considered it before but her reasoning sold me to it, if you all disagree let me know. As always, REVIEW!**

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><p>It was Samhain, Lilly bloody hated Samhain, she was a practitioner of the old ways, the celebration of life, death, and rebirth was as much a part of her as it was her Aunt's of Black; the problem was it was also the night her parents were brutally murdered by her friend in her head. Tom always left her alone on Samhain, it was the one sticking point in their relationship and he preferred to not strain things, he felt bad enough for orphaning her as is after all. So for the one day a year she was truly alone she sulked, her friends tried to distract her but it didn't work, she appreciated the effort but well...what can you do?<p>

So she sat alone atop the Astronomy tower with lit candles and a smoldering bowl of ritual herbs, she silently sent her prayers to her mother, father, and the forgotten dead, those who had no one to pray for them in the great beyond. When she was finished with her prayers she did her best to clear her mind but it was no use, telling a genius with an overactive imagination to not think was just a losing battle, so she decided to ruminate on recent events.

The past two months had been at the very least mildly interesting if nothing else, Binns *ahem* "disappearance" hadn't been noticed for nearly a week, when a thoroughly befuddled Dumbledore found out he scrambled to find a replacement but was beaten to the punch by the Board of Governors thanks to Lilly's rather scathing letter campaign. The look on his face when Narcissa Malfoy was made the new History of Magic professor held a very special place in Lilly's heart, right up there with murdering the Dursley's, her first real birthday party, and meeting Hermione.

Quirrell was proving to be a semi-decent teacher after evidence of Binns rather violent exorcism was found, he'd been eyeing Lilly warily since then making it fairly obvious he suspected her of taking matters into her own hands and feared the same treatment. That had been unplanned but not unwelcome but it severely limited what she could get away with for the time being, trying to not look suspicious while you were being _very _suspicious was just not worth the effort when under constant supervision.

Outside of those events nothing of real import had happened, sadly life was becoming rather...static, if she wasn't constantly plotting world domination and twisting the student populace to her will she'd probably have died from boredom at this point.

Huffing she stood and approached the edge of the tower, staring over the parapet she observed the setting sun and shivered a bit as a chill wind blew threw her woolen cloak sending her hair fluttering. Pulling a loose strand behind her ear she took a breath and began singing, it was her final offering to the dead and her personal lament towards the coming winter. Honestly her Gaelic was rather rough, Aunt Andi was the only family member who spoke it fluently so her conversation partners were rather limited, but she felt she did the ancient rite justice.

As her final notes closed and were carried away on the cold winds and darkening skies she jumped when she heard clapping behind her, turning around quickly and surreptitiously gripping her wand she was startled to see Professor Quirrell standing there looking at her oddly.

"Hello child, when I heard singing I came to see who the songstress was, you're quite talented, I'm just a bit shocked to see someone practicing the old ways especially with how cold it is out here at the moment," shrugging stiffly and nervously playing with a loose locke of hair she slowly met his eyes, they were an oddly familiar shade of blue, almost black.

"I always perform my rites outside, I have a rather...different relationship with Samhain than most," he nodded and walked up beside her staring out into the darkening forest,

"You would at that I suppose, if I may ask why perform your rites now rather than earlier in the day?" She gave him a wane smile and shrugged again,

"I find it's fitting to commune with the dead as the last light passes...and well to be honest the Great Hall offends me at the moment, it's insulting how...muggle it is right now." That earned her a curious look from the Professor who remained quiet for a time before responding,

"Not a fan of muggles are you?" She worried her lip a bit before deciding to speak her mind,

"Some of them are brilliant, some of them are amazing decent people, some of them are no better then animals and deserve to die, much like any group of wizards you'll find in our community...what I don't appreciate is their culture subverting ours. Our entire population barely teeters into the ten million mark, there are so few of us that if we continuously let the muggles overwrite our very essence...well.."

She gave him a sad smile before shaking her head, "Well...you get a bunch of witches and wizards dressing up in stupid costumes surrounded by oversize jack 'o' lanterns being supervised by a doddering old man who is ignoring the passing of what makes us _us_." She hadn't really planned on such a passionate little speech and was honestly now worried she said too much, to her surprise the Professor was smiling down at her,

"You're just full of surprises aren't you little one? Come come it's getting quite cold up here and while you find the decorations offensive you _do_ need to eat," nodding she gathered her things and gently put them away. Putting the package in her bag she pulled it up over her shoulders and followed the Professor down the stairs, wishing him farewell she first made her way down to the dungeons to ditch her things. Entering the empty common room she quickly went to her dorm and tossed her bag into her trunk, as she slammed it shut she hissed out the parseltongue password locking it down, another neat trick Tom taught her.

Whistling to herself quietly she left the Slytherin chambers behind and mulled over what to do tomorrow, tea with Hagrid sounded like it could be a bit of a lark, the giant of a man always had something interesting going on. She, Hermione, and Neville had been meeting with him regularly much to the surprise of her housemates, since apparently he was known to be firmly in Dumbledore's pocket. Funny thing that, subverting your opponents most loyal pawns was a very Slytherin thing to do why they didn't see it was beyond her, the fact that she actually loved his fascination with dangerous magical creatures was just a bonus.

As Lilly meandered down the halls her first indication something was off was the screaming, the second was the horrid stench of septic decay, she was very glad that her stomach was empty at the moment because she'd have thrown up otherwise. Quickening her pace she got around the corner just in time to see a blonde girl dive out of the way of a club strike courtesy of a bloody mountain troll of all the goddess be damned things, the blonde struggled to get to her feet as a redheaded girl quickly helped her up. The two of them ran towards Lillith with absolute horror writ on their faces, she recognized Susan Bones and Hannah Abbot immediately, she rather liked the two Hufflepuffs that were largely considered the sharpest in their house so their near deaths were rather distressing.

_"Knock knock Tom, wakey wakey, we've got work to do_" Tom stirred from the back of her mind and his immediate reaction of,

"_Bloody fucking hell!"_ Pretty much summed up her feelings rather succinctly,

"_Indeed, thoughts?"_ She calmly asked as the the three meter tall monstrosity charged towards the three girls, Susan was holding her wand in a white knuckled grip the snarl of pure rage on her face immediately putting her on the top of Lillith's acquisition list. She knew the look, she was furious at the troll for threatening her and outraged that she had the potential to destroy it but no knowledge to do so, thank you Hogwarts education system. Quickly making a decision she met Susan's eyes,

"Do you promise to trust me?" Her blue eyes showed fear and resolve, the redhead nodded quickly and that was all Lilly needed,

"CRUCIO!" She roared as she jabbed her wand at the charging troll, the creature bellowed in agony as it fell to the ground rolling to a stop, the curse had no chance of doing permanent damage to the magically resistant beast but it did slow it down. Shaking her head and trying to not black out from the power draw of the curse without her normal focusing she glanced at the shocked 'Puffs and continued speaking as if she hadn't just cast an unforgivable,

"Quick this is the reductor curse, full circle and jab, you need to envision an invisible force smashing something as you say 'reducto', as long as you visualize you can do it," turning back to the troll that was getting back onto its shaky feet Tom whispered,

"_Go for the knees, groin, and wrists, they're its only weak points outside of bludgeoning the damn thing senseless,"_ nodding absently she cast a reducto at its knees earning her an angry growl, damn thing was practically made of steel. Susan and Hannah were panicking but after a few failed attempts they actually managed to cast the reductor, suitably impressed with her year mates the trio of now armed and pissed off witches began pummeling the increasingly hesitant troll with the powerful curse.

She had no idea how long they were at it but as they forced the troll into a corner a red spell that looked like an overpowered stunner from hell hit it in the head sending the odorous thing to the ground with a heavy thud. The three girls were panting from the exertion of casting so many spells in such a short time, as they exchanged looks an understanding seemed to have been made between them, hopefully. Turning to see who had finally put the troll down they were surprised to see Professor Sprout and most of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs standing at the foot of the stairs leading up to the Great Hall, the entire group was eyeing the girls with surprise and respect.

Lilly was honestly terrified the 'puffs would crack and tell their head of house that she'd cast an unforgivable sending her straight to Azkaban, and while she really shouldn't let her mouth go off without asking her brain for permission first her adrenaline shot nerves bypassed this safety.

"So...I guess we missed dinner huh?" Hannah and Susan looked at her wide eyed than at once broke down into hysterical giggles, Lilly soon followed, Professor Sprout than sent the students to their dorms though her trio of Slytherin friends had to be cajoled to leave her there. The professor, bless her patient heart let the girls work the nervous laughs out of their systems and eventually Susan took the lead and explained how she and Hannah had gone to dinner late due to homework. She clarified that they ran headfirst into Lilly and than Susan made her position as Lillith's favorite redhead permanent by explaining how the ravenette had tripped the troll up with a reductor curse and had given the pair of 'puffs a crash course on how to cast it themselves.

Ten minutes, thirty points to Slytherin and Hufflepuff and a visit to the hospital wing later and Lilly finally got a word alone with the girls,

"Thanks, I...I'm really thankful you didn't turn me in for that," Susan and Hannah exchanged looks then nodded to each other, Hannah spoke first,

"I'm...not comfortable you know that curse, but if you didn't there is a good chance we'd be dead, I'm not going to throw you under the wagon because you decided to save our lives," Susan nodded at this quickly whilst twirling her wand and worrying her lip. Eventually she sighed and met Lilly's eyes,

"My auntie has told me how during the war they were allowed to use the unforgivables, even the playing field her boss had called it, as far as I'm concerned you used the resources at hand and...well...I'm alive, _we're_ alive, so no need to thank us, we should be thanking you." Smiling in return they sat in comfortable silence until Madam Pomfrey gave them a once over and released them, as they stood to leave Hannah walked up to her and fiddled around with a silver chain around her neck, taking it off Lilly could see it had a large crystal hanging from it.

Fidgeting a bit the blonde stared at the violet piece of rough crystal a moment and than nodded as if coming to a decision,

"This...this is a fey crystal, my mother found it in Ireland years ago in an old fairy mound, it had been long abandoned but some artefakts remained, I...I want you to have it." Touched Lilly was going to refuse the gift but the small blonde shook her head stubbornly, "No, you saved my life, it's the least I can do, so please take it." Smiling Lilly opened her hand and gasped as the crystal began to glow dimly in her palm, the other two girls were not far behind. Susan eyed her with new found respect as she whispered,

"Those...fey crystals only react like that to those with fey blood...there's only one line in all the isles that can claim that, and to have a reaction like this..." Lilly swallowed hard and nodded slowly,

"So...It would appear I'm related to Morgana le Fey..." this certainly helped explain her animagus form, Tom was giddily cackling in her minds background so apparently he was quite pleased with this turn of events. Palming the necklace she pulled the chain over her head and shoved the crystal under her robes, smiling she pulled both 'puffs into a crushing hug, "Thank you." With that they were escorted back down to the dungeons, someone had apparently carted the troll off at some point but its stench lingered, bidding the girls farewell Lilly hissed at the hidden door and trudged into the Slytherin common room.

She stopped short seeing the entirety of her house staring at her, unlike on her sorting night it wasn't a combination of terror and resentment, there was...respect, an older boy stepped forward, Alexander Nott if her memory served her correctly. Theodore's older brother stared at her a moment longer then broke the silence,

"That was some impressive casting out there Potter, you seemed a bit wiped out though for casting simple reductors," pride commeth before the fall and her mouth once again shot off before her mind could tell it to shut the hell up.

"You try casting the cruciatus on a bloody troll and see how perky you are afterwords, I swear the blasted thing barely felt it after the initial shock..." Lilly _felt_ the blood leave her face as she admitted this, and much...much to her shock this revelation caused most of the rooms occupants to grin at her.

"I see," Alexander said nodding slowly, "Well, if you'd like I can show you how to cast it on the fly, I know normally you have to find your focus to pull it off correctly and it is very draining otherwise but my father showed me some techniques that can limit the power draw." Quickly meeting Hermione's brilliant brown eyes the brunette tilted her head ever so slightly, turning back to Alexander Lilly smiled and nodded,

"I would appreciate that, when Auntie Bellatrix had me practicing on child molesters in Knockturn Alley it was a more...controlled setting." He smirked at that and she distinctly heard Draco snort and say,

"So that was you and Aunt Bella...figures...," Eventually the group broke up and everyone made their way to their respective dorms, assuring Blaise and Draco she was fine she followed Hermione into their room. Rather then getting into her own bed after changing her bookworm friend curled up with her and pulled the curtains closed, looking at the brunette oddly she was pulled into a tight hug.

"I was so worried we'd lost you, please Lilly, you're my first, best, most wonderful friend, don't get yourself killed until we're very old ladies surrounded by a ludicrous amount of cats," laughing Lilly pulled her friend close and sighed.

"I promise, and I'm sorry for scaring you, I really am, hey, wanna see something neat?" Hermione was a sponge for knowledge regardless of its source or purpose, she nodded quickly and so Lilly pulled out her fey crystal, "It ends up I'm likely a descendant of Morgana le Fey, who knew?" Hermione's eyes reached the size of saucers as she stared at the magical gem, after she gathered her wits she smirked and dug her head into the crook of Lilly's neck.

"Only you dear Lilly, only you, if I may suggest you should bring it up to Professor Malfoy tomorrow, I've the strangest feeling it comes from your Black side." Nodding in agreement she pulled her best friend closer and inhaled the scent of blackberries from her bushy hair, after a short silence the brunette spoke up,

"Lilly, you realize they think they're corrupting you, they think they're turning you to the dark by helping you cast unforgivables," Lilly chuckled a bit at that,

"I know, it's rather funny seeing the pawns prance about thinking they're the master of the game." Hermione let out a small laugh causing her to shake a bit, she than cocked her head slightly in amusement,

"Just thought I'd let you know," Lilly smiled in a self satisfied manner and sighed heavily into her friends hair,

"Good night 'Mione..." sighing sleepily the bookworm replied,

"Night Lilly..."

The following morning Lilly awoke to the calm breathing of her best friend, smiling down at Hermione she slowly broke their night long hug and threw the blankets over her friend, stretching she went through her morning rituals and called one of the house elves for a cup of tea an a several pieces of toast. Munching on her light breakfast the emerald eyed young heiress meandered up to the newly renovated history offices, one of the first things Auntie Cissy had done when appointed her new position was clean the horrid series of chambers. So entering the reception area she waved happily to the young wizard manning the desk and made her way to her Aunt's office, she tapped on the mahogany frame quickly with a knuckled fist then dug back into her toast. As the door began to creak slowly Lilly kicked it open in a rather unladylike fashion and plopped in the seat opposite of her blonde aunt who was smirking at her in amusement, Lilly silently offered her one of her pieces of toast and the Lady of Malfoy accepted it gracefully. After Lilly finished her breakfast and tea she grinned openly,

"So it ends up I have fairy blood," pulling the chain around her neck she let the faintly glowing fey crystal rest in her palm, "I was just wondering if it was from who I think it is..." Narcissa stared at the rough crystal a moment before shaking herself to focus, meeting Lilly's eyes her friends mother grinned widely,

"It would appear little one that you are Morgana's heiress, I suppose I should be surprised but I'm not...not at all,, where did you get the crystal?" Explaining everything that happened the night before the blonde woman shook her head slowly her smile never leaving her face, they sat in silence for a time before she spoke again. Clearing her throat she leaned forward meeting Lilly's emerald gaze with her cool silver, almost blue eyes still smirking, "You've been chosen by our founder to bring great things little one, I hope you can live up to it.

"I...I was chosen by our families founder...Morgana was the head of the Black?" If possible Aunt Cissy's grin grew wider as she sipped her tea,

"Well noticed my dear, and she has chosen you specifically, something tells me that little lump of rock will play a part in your near future, keep it close to yourself love, now why don't you clean up and head out to that foolish broom game?" Waving it off Lilly ignored the quiditch match to continue discussing her families origins with her aunt well into the afternoon, after being dismissed Lilly made her way back to the now raucous common room, unsurprisingly they had destroyed the Griffendorks. Curling up next to Draco and Blaise she didn't budge when they both threw an arm over her shoulders, Hermione sat at her feet and rested her head against her legs as she read a book. Grinning to herself she looked up at the stone ceiling, honestly it was the little things in life that made it worth living.

Later that evening she focused on the fey crystal in her hands, it had to serve a purpose but she just didn't know _what_ it was, eventually she let out several unladylike swears in Gaelic as she stared down at the lump of stone and crystal, much to her shock the amethyst crystal began shifting as it glowed in her palms. After a time a three inch long seven sided clean cut violet gem rested in her hands, it glowed brightly in the gloom of her sealed bed curtains, grinning widely she realized what the crystal was immediately and held the stone between her thumb and forefinger, the Potter heiress began cackling as she'd found the first piece to her own wand.

The following weeks quickly fell back into tedium, it was honestly a bother to even consider overthrowing the legitimate government when there was a meter of snow outside the gates, so bundled up to the point were she resembled her favorite silver screen yeti (you could not convince her Chewbacca was anything else) Lilly soon found herself viewing a list to stay behind for the holidays posted by the Deputy Headmistress. She'd already decided that she was going to stay at the castle since Draco and Hermione were so she quickly signed her name and kept walking, as Yule reared it's head the Potter heiress grinned wickedly, while Samhain had a rather large amount of baggage attached to it Yule did not. She awoke in her dorm to see her favorite bushy haired know-it-all carefully unwrapping presents, Lilly smirked when the brunette opened her gift, the copy of the Slytherin family grimmoire would leave her partner in crime in a tizzy for months.

Digging into her own gifts she found piles of candy from the Carrow twins, Susan, Hannah, Daphne, and Tracey, Blaise had sent her a rather fetching silver pin of a raven sitting atop a pile of books. Staring at it in awe she wondered if her Italian friend realized how much it would mean to her as she placed it it reverently on her bed, Hermione had sent her a pair of black and purple stripped stockings and an adorable dark blue jumper, she'd immediately dug out a black skirt to wear with the outfit. Neville and Sally had both sent her books on herbology and charm spells respectfully, the last gift was from Draco and it stilled her heart for a moment, '_For my favorite little fairy',_ was written on the wood box, she opened it slowly and gasped at what was inside.

Pulling the small silver chain from the box she stared at the charm dangling from it, rubbing her thumb over the raven in flight Lilly grinned as she slid the bracelet on, brushing past Hermione she ran into the common room where Draco was currently sipping on a cup of tea, landing in the blondes arms she held him close and kissed him on the cheek,

"Thank you little dragon, happy yule to you!" Her friend blushed deeply as he returned the hug running a finger down the dragon embroidered tie she'd bought him,

"Not a problem little fairy, not a problem at all," the rest of the winter hols was spent having snow ball fights with the Weasley twins and her friends, Ronald refused to participate because everyone immediately made him their target, outside of that she spent most of her time with Aunt Cissy and Uncle Lucius as they had tea with Draco. Honestly it was ever so much fun, Aunt Cissy had Auntie Bella's screwed up sense of humor and Uncle Lucius' dry wit was just fun to be around, she knew within a couple days that Draco had gotten the best from both of them.

A week before classes resumed Lilly entered her dorm to find a gaily wrapped package sitting on the foot of her bed, intrigued she opened it to find herself holding a magnificent piece of cloth in her hands. It shimmered like the nights sky and felt as light and soft as silk, reading the small note telling her it was her fathers the grin on her face could have stopped wars in their tracks. This was the Marauder cloak, Uncle Moony and Padfoot had told her enough stories about it, which meant the old bastard had her family heirloom all these years. Running a quick series of diagnostic spells Lilly removed the various tracking charms from the cloak then threw it over her shoulders, approaching her wardrobe mirror she couldn't hold in her delighted cackle.

She had the Peverall invisibility cloak and no one else knew about it outside of one incompetent meddler, suddenly 'boredom' became a lost concept to one Lillith Dorea Potter.

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><p><strong>Obviously Draco heard about the whole le Fey thing so he's going to start calling Lilly 'Little Fairy', it will both be endearing and annoying or her, anyway as always hope you enjoyed and PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	10. Chapter 10 Rock Out With Dragons

**Little Shorter than I'd have expected but honestly a lot of 'book' is cut down when you aren't dealing with Harry's forced ignorance, really without the mirror, tricking poor Hagrid, Slytherins and Gryffindors trying to one up each other and quiditch there just isn't much going on before the forest incident.**

***Sigh*, please bear with me this isn't going to be normal for this story I just had little to work with without going into 'Bleach' levels of pointless none plot effecting side stories, it's just too early in her career for that sort of thing to be pertinent...anyway take this chapter for what it is, a bridge between plotlines and a warm fuzzy father/daughter moment. Please review and have a great day.**

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><p>Yule holiday was rolling to a close and Lilly still hadn't seen her dad, it had been rather trying on the two of them having to pretend to be no closer than a head of house and a first year student. Plus, much to Lilly's disgust her dad had to deal with the old bastard having the other professors keeping an eye on him in case he had any...unscrupulous thoughts towards his dead crushes daughter, the very idea offended him and infuriated her, but alas they were slaves to the whims of others...again. So it was with these disgruntled thoughts and silent death wishes towards a twinkly eyed old meddler that Lilly literally walked right into the resident Potions Master, as she fell backwards and landed on her bum with a squeak she glanced up to see her mildly amused father figure staring down at her. After a few moments he offered her a hand and as he pulled her up he leaned in and whispered,<p>

"Did you receive your fathers cloak and do you have it on you?" Eyes widening she nodded towards Professor Snape quickly, smiling he quirked an eyebrow and walked away, taking the hint she pulled the overly large piece of fabric out and wrapped it around herself and quickly followed her dad. They were heading to the Gryffindor tower, she'd found it fairly easily despite it being "Hidden" thanks to Sally and Neville literally not caring in the slightest if she knew its location, eventually they made it up to the seventh floor. As she was observing a rather horrifying tapestry of some fool trying to get trolls to dance her dad paced back and forth three times and suddenly a pair of doors formed out of the wall, lifting her brows in interest she followed him through and started a bit as they slammed shut behind her.

He turned around and grinned widely, the genuine loving smile he reserved solely for her shined down like a beacon, he took a knee and pulled her into a hug holding her closely, a brief moment later her arms were wrapped around his neck.

"This. Sucks." She stated simply, he chuckled and nodded,

"True true, but it's only for another year or two, at that point Sirius and Lucius should have enough political clout that even Dumbledore couldn't take you away from your family," tearing up at the mention of family, her _real_ family she held her dad a bit closer. After a time he let her go and she finally gave the room a once over, the walls were lined in books and there was several comfortable looking chairs scattered about. In the center of the room were a pair of high stools and what looked like a couple electric guitars and a large amplifier, there were several stacks of books and sheet music on top of the amp as well as a few guitar picks.

Looking at the setup in confusion she turned to her dad who was smiling down at her fondly, "You do recall wanting to know more about your mother yes? Well, she and I both learned to play the guitar together, your grandfather, Lily's father, taught your mother how to play on that Les Paul, it was actually his before he gave it to her, oh the fit Petunia threw, bint didn't even play she just didn't want Lily to be happy..." Handing the starburst lacquered instrument to Lillith he picked up the other guitar, he fiddled with the black instrument a bit before taking a seat on one of the stools, Lilly quickly followed his lead while still staring down at the Gibson in her hands.

"This...this was mums...and granddads? This...this was my families?" Smiling sadly he nodded slowly,

"Yes dear, it was, she left it here after graduation, we use to come to this room all the time to practice before...before everything went bad, for your Yule present I'd like to offer you what your mother would have dearly loved to pass down to you if she could, would you let me teach you to play? I would have offered earlier but without your fathers cloak getting away separately not to mention you avoiding that nasty fool Filch would have been nearly impossible," tears freely running down her cheeks and landing on the guitars body she looked up to Snape's worried face smiling sadly.

"Thank you daddy, I'd love to learn," and so in one day she'd learned something new about her mother that Padfoot and Moony had no clue about and inherited yet one more heirloom of her lost past, luckily she'd played some violin so she wasn't completely new to stringed instruments or reading sheet music. The room which dad had called the 'Come and Go Room' proved to be a Goddess send, the professor had a very difficult time getting away from his duties as school began again so the room supplied instructors helping her keep up with her practicing.

So Lilly spent the next couple months learning to play guitar with her dad, hanging out with her friends and experimenting with her new cloak, quite by accident she'd discovered that it shifted with her when using her animagus ability, so after a time she'd figured out how to will it into different shapes. She'd settled on it taking the form of a standard hooded robe with slightly longer than necessary sleeves to conceal her hands, once that was done she had taken to wearing it underneath her everyday school robe. The ability to go invisible at anytime was just too much fun, while she had no real desire to prank people as her father and uncles had she was more than willing to use her new +10 To Stealth ability to sneak off and practice on her mothers guitar.

On a less... innocent note she'd also taken to stealing books from the restricted section of the library and bringing them to Hermione to copy, she'd scold the ravenette lightly for breaking so many rules at once than have a fit of the giggles as she dug into the spoils of her friends theft. One such acquisition run found her perusing a tome discussing the ins and outs of the Dark Arts, (predictably it was an incredibly biased accounting in the Lights favor, shocking, really) Lilly than heard a soft gasp, brows furrowing she closed the book and jammed it back on the shelf, making sure her cloak had her fully covered she padded around the corner quietly.

Pausing she saw a pair of upper years entwined around each other snogging in the shadowed corner, she'd hand it to the couple they were brave to risk the wrath of Madam Pince with such a public display, even this late in the evening. As she was about to turn around and leave them to their own devices she noticed the boy, a seventh year Slytherin she hadn't bothered to introduce herself to had a his wand up his sleeve pointed at the girl. They broke the rather passionate kiss and Lilly could quite clearly see that the Hufflepuff's eyes had a glassy quality to them, the boy whispered something to her and she blinked dumbly and followed him towards the exit.

Lilly lifted an incredulous brow at this turn of events, did one of her housemates seriously just imperius a random Hufflepuff in the middle of the library and no one noticed?

"_Happens more than you think little one, the house of guile and cunning does not exactly attract the most savory of people, the weak are preyed on by the strong and all that,"_ frowning Lilly shook her head in disgust,

"_If what I think is about to happen is happening I really need to do something about it, should I report it?"_ Tom rolled his eyes at that,

_"You've been playacting avoiding your dad the past few months to keep Dumbledore's suspicions down so you can't really go to him and even if you did it would be your word against that of a seventh year, sure Snape would believe you but the Board of Governors?"_ Huffing in annoyance she followed the pair through the doors, worrying her lip she eventually sighed,

_"Oh bugger it, I suppose I'm going to have to manually input some manners into him, I swear if I didn't need these idiots as cannon fodder..."_ Tom only smiled pridefully at this declaration, eventually the Slytherin led the girl into an abandoned classroom and Lilly quickly squeezed through the door before it slammed shut. Realizing quickly that they were in the potions lab she turned to see the boy begin removing the girls outer robes while feeling her up, Lilly really didn't need to see this especially with the very real fear of setting off some of her own triggers but she had to make sure the boy fully intended on going through with this.

Lilly signed in disgust as he bent the girl over and pulled her knickers down, as he was fiddling with his belt she decided that was enough,

"Stupify," she stated in a bored tone sending the imperioused girl to the ground, the boy spun around eyes wide in shock as the shimmering form before him materialized into a petite figure draped in a coal black cloak. Something else she'd figured out about the cloak, you could actually turn it off, her father really hadn't stretched his imagination much when he'd used it in his youth; pulling back the cowl she let the boy register who she was before casting a expelliarmus sending his wand flying.

Letting her own...experiences with similar treatment as this unnamed girl was about to endure freely roll through her mind Lilly ignited the frozen furnace of her rage and let it envelop her. As the whites of her eyes turned obsidian and her irises began to glow she let out what Blaise had assured her was a very creepy giggle and walked towards the older and much larger boy who was slowly backing away from her.

"You know, outside of that troll and those rats Alexander had me practice on I haven't really gotten to let loose with my cruciatus skills since I came to Hogwarts," meeting the boys terrified gaze she grinned widely, "I hope you have endurance, because I can go all night."

Roughly an hour later a very exhausted young girl made her way back into the Slytherin common rooms, waving to her friends she entered her dorm and shucked off her robes tossing them into her trunk and locking it down, she didn't bother changing into her pajamas before collapsing into her bed. She'd been wrong when she'd been intimidating mister would be rapist, her spell casting endurance was just not enough to handle such high level curses for extended periods, not yet anyway. She blew a loose locke of hair from her eyes as she stared up at her beds canopy, it was quite humbling realizing she had so much potential but she could only tap so much of her power at her age, her core wouldn't fully stabilize until her late teens at the earliest and this caused her to grimace.

_"Was it like this for you Tom? Having grand plans and being hindered by your own biology?"_ He made a noise that seemed to register as thoughtful contemplation before responding,

"_Yes and no, you have far more resources than I did at the time, plus you're already jaded so you don't have to learn most of the lessons I did the hard way, but I admit having indepth knowledge of the Dark Arts and being only able to dabble into it until I was older... was irritating."_ Satisfied that she wasn't the only person to be held back by something as annoying as having to wait for puberty to do its job she pulled the blankets over herself and sighed out,

_"Night Tom," _

_"Night Lilly," _He paused a moment before asking,

"_What do you think the reaction will be when they find a twitching Slytherin suffering from memory lose with his pants around his ankles and a half dressed Hufflepuff girl in the potions lab tomorrow?" _Lilly felt her brows raise at that,

_"Oh yeah, the Hufflepuff, forgot about her...huh..."_ She than drifted to sleep on Tom's laughter.

As it ended up the Hufflepuff girl remembered _everything_ leading up to her being stunned, including a squeaking little girl yelling stupefy, she'd pressed charges against the boy, one Vergas LeStrange, and was willing to testify under truth serum and have her memories of the event put on display. That was a black mark Lilly wasn't expecting to hit her house, although as details of the event unfolded Blaise, Hermone, and Draco all eyed her suspiciously, and honestly for good reason it _did_ sound like a stupid 'saving people thing' she'd try and pull off. Vergas happened to be the sole heir to the LeStrange estate and since in his post cruciatus state he was unable to testify a sizable portion of his wealth was given to the Hufflepuff girl whose name was not being disclosed at this point.

Shrugging the whole thing off as a bad job Lilly spent the next couple of weeks hanging out with Hagrid in her free time, she'd found out through casual observation of the horrifically bad liar that Dumbledore was hiding the Philosophers Stone in the third floor of the transfiguration wing and the first defense was a hellhound. Lilly was actually flabbergasted at that, any sorceress summoner could tell you pure bred (i.e. pure demonic) hellhounds were useless as guards because all it took was a music box to put them under for as long as needed. While Tom was keen to go after the stone Lilly had to very sternly point out how the entire thing was a setup, either it was a trap to catch the still kicking piece of Voldemort or a stupid "Herculean Challenge" for her to prove her worth as Dumbles weapon of mass destruction.

After her rather scathing comments Tom largely fell silent on the whole ordeal, as much as that stone might be useful for them the entire situation screamed 'RUN' in capital letters to the young heiress. Time moved on and as the weeks passed by one particular evening found Lilly and Hermione heading out to Hagrid's hut to spend some time with the friendly giant, he'd been overjoyed to find out Lilly had taken up the guitar and somehow had fashioned her an acoustic model to play for him when she visited. Lilly began to strum her guitar and started singing out Led Zepplins 'Immigrant Song' for the bearded man when they heard a roar in his hut, raising a brow Lilly stood and stared down at the sheepish gamekeeper. Sighing she opened the door and saw a baby dragon sitting on his desk lighting miscellaneous things on fire.

After an extraordinarily long argument with he who finds dragons cuddly she'd gotten him to agree to send the damn thing off to Romania with Charlie Weasley who she had met a few years ago through his father, they both found dragons fascinating and Hagrid's willingness to keep one in a wood shed distressing. 'The Heist' as she'd taken to calling the horrendous situation went off without a hitch for the most part, she, Blaise, and Draco had snuck the dragon (that Hagrid had named Norbert...hells bells...) up to the top of the astronomy tower and gotten it away free of harm, it wasn't until the trio got to the base of the tower that they found themselves facing the disgusting grinning visage of Filch staring down at them.

Why the hell hadn't she used the cloak? Right...only Hermione knew about that, gritting her teeth Lillith turned to face the smug Pansy Parkinson and simply pointed at her stating,

"You've managed to be the first student to earn my ire, congratulations."

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><p><strong>Gods be damned that was annoying, the next chapter will be better but without Harry flailing around and quiditch the story has ALOT of holes in this point, maybe I should put Lilly on the team second year to avoid this crap... Ugh whatever, please tell me what you think because frankly I the <em>writer<em> dislike how this chapter ended up. Oh side note, Lillith is aware Voldemort is probably still out there, but in her mind he's a doppleganger to Tom and not worth her thought for the time being, this will be clarified later. Anyway, as always reviews are appreciated and I promise next chapter will be double this length, preferably triple but that depends on when I get home from work, take care all.**


	11. Chapter 11- Quote the Raven

_**The playful moment between Lilly and Severus was inspired by a conversation I overheard with my friend and his daughter, shes adorable and will be a heart breaker when she's older, he raised her on martial arts and firearms making her one of the most self confidant little ten year olds I've ever met and she kinda dominates any reprimands he gives her. He's so wound around her little finger it's hilarious, anyway this was a ludicrous amount of fun to write, hope you enjoy it and as always, REVIEW!**_

_**Aside-Also those who have read most of my stories may note I have a keen interest in the afterlife, Gaelic lore, and the symbolism of ravens and death, this is all Arthurian Legend, Edgar Allen Poe and Lovecraft's fault, blame them.**_

_**ATTENTION-Anyone want to make the cover image for this story? I always thought an image of Snape holding little Lillith on his lap while she grinned down at a globe of the world in her hands was adorable. Anyway, just a question since I really like this story.**_

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><p>It ended up that Filch was even more petty than Lillith had initially suspected and thanks to needling from that bint Parkinson he'd bypassed Professor Snape and dragged the trio up to the Headmaster's office, as the five newcomers stood before Dumbledore and McGonogall Lilly felt the control over her magic begin to slip at their judging stares. Both Blaise and Draco were returning the looks with practiced indifference, Lillith would normally be taking the lead on that one, but with Parkinson's smug smile and Filch's excited sneer she felt the desire to murder those standing before her. Clearing his throat Dumbledore began speaking,<p>

"This was not quite the best first meeting for us dear children, lemon drop?" Lillith stared down at the dish a moment and asked Tom,

_"They dosed?" _He snorted a bit,

"_You're a properly paranoid young lady, but no it's too obvious, he tried it before but covering the flavor of droughts even with citrus is a losing battle,"_ nodding inwardly she surprised the entire room by reaching for one of the confections, tossing it in the air and catching it in her mouth.

"Thanks," the looks on the two professors faces indicated no one had ever taken him up on the offer before, the goddess be damned twinkle in his eyes showed true amusement for her actions. Smiling congenially he than asked,

"Could you possibly tell me what brings you all here tonight?" Filch stepped forward sneering,

"I caught these little brats breaking curfew, the-" he fell silent still mouthing words, his face purpled in rage noticing Lillith pointing her wand at him as the last visages of her whispered 'silencio' left her mouth.

"Quiet, the adults are talking," turning to the stunned professors she continued, "before your resident child hating sociopathic sadist accosted us thanks to the traitor over there I was leading my friends in an attempt to keep your gamekeeper out of prison." McGonogall's mouth was pinched into a tight line at the girl daring to cast a silencing charm on Filch but she was if nothing else fair so instead of exploding she asked,

"And what do you mean by that Miss Potter?" The Deputy Headmistress took in a quick intake of breath as the girl stared at her, the irises of her eyes scintillating like gemstones,

"Hagrid is a wonderful cheerful man with a heart bigger than Britannia but the common sense of a grapefruit, he'd won a dragon in a card game and hatched the bloody thing, seeing as the fine if he were caught would bankrupt him and he'd end up in Azkaban for six months I contacted a dragon reserve to remove it." She sighed as a wry grin curled up her face, breaking eye contact with the professor she shook her head in amusement, "Goofball would keep manticores if he could I swear." Draco spoke up at this without prompting,

"She wanted to handle it on her own Headmaster but we kind of insisted to come along, the grounds can be dangerous at night and well...baby or not it's a dragon, Blaise and I suppose Parkinson overheard us so he offered to come along as well." Blaise coolly nodded at this, his gold eyes offering no indicator of his emotional state (if anyone were interested to ask it would be angry, mixed with a dash of annoyed), Dumbledore smiled widely at this and looked as if he'd been given the worlds biggest gift.

"There is nothing in this world quite as endearing as true friendship, as you two showed for young Miss Potter and she for our dear Hagrid, I am slightly disappointed you three decided to take matters into your own hands but also impressed at your loyalty." The trio of Slytherin's nodded at this in unison which actually earned a quirk at the corner of McGonogall's mouth, the Headmaster pointedly ignored the still silently raging Filch and the now furious looking Pansy as he turned to his deputy.

Smiling benignly he continued, "While I believe a punishment is in order the loss of house points shouldn't be necessary, since they earned this attention by helping Hagrid they could spend an evenings detention with him, does that sound fair?" The Scotswoman looked down at her great-grandniece, standing proudly shoulder to shoulder with her friends, the trio exuding a sense of calculated indifference but she could see James' defiant posture in the girl. Nodding she agreed,

"It's fitting, one should not be overly punished for helping others through their mistakes, may I suggest Miss Parkinson joins them seeing as she broke curfew as well?" The girl in question let out an indignant sound that was ignored as the Headmaster nodded in agreement, "I'll see to it that Hagrid hears about it soon then, I'm sure he could use their help cleaning up something or other," Dumbledore let out a cheerful clap while smiling happily.

"Well than, you three take this pass to avoid further altercations on your way to your dorms, you may go now," the trio looked surprised to get off so lightly but they were Slytherin's, they didn't ask questions when they got away with something. The two boys gave the professors slight bows and Lillith performed an abbreviated curtsy, they turned to leave and headed down the staircase. Before the door closed they heard the girl sigh out,

"Sorry about that guys, what an evening," Dumbledore then heard Mr. Zabini speak for the first time,"

"Don't worry about it Lils, it's what friends are for, come on we've still got time for a game of exploding snap," and with that they were gone and so was the headmasters smile. Turning to Miss Parkinson he called for a house elf to escort the girl to the dorms and once gone he removed the silencing charm on the still fuming Filch,

"Argus..." he began, "I've warned you before this over zealous desire to chase down and punish children who have never done anything to you is unacceptable, do you honestly believe I hadn't noticed three of my schools brightest students gallivanting around in the dead of night?" Gaping the greasy haired man just stood there with a look of shock on his face, "Miss Potter is a very powerful, very protective young witch and your actions have made yours and Miss Parkinson's future well being questionable at best, I for one have seen her mothers vengeful streak, and I do not envy either of you for earning the daughters ire."

Looking over his spectacles he stared the caretaker in the eye, "Do try to show some proper judgment in the future, you are dismissed." The caretaker left the room grumbling and as soon as the door closed Dumbledore collapsed fully into his seat. He was smiling a bit which confused his deputy,

"Albus what is it?" He shook his head and grabbed a lemon drop, tossing it into his mouth his smile grew wider,

"I was worried about her Minerva, I was worried something went wrong when she was sorted into Slytherin and befriended young Mister Malfoy, but I see her parents in her now, shes fiercely loyal and holds no biases if her friendship with Hagrid is any indicator. Things...things are looking up for the Light, now could you possibly find out _exactly_ how a dragon egg ended up at Hogwarts? As much as I believe Hagrid's intentions were innocent his acquiring such a heavily controlled item is...concerning." Nodding quickly she left the office and promptly made her way down to the dungeons, she'd have to let Severus know what had happened to his charges, and maybe she'd finally get some answers in the process.

As the Slytherin trio entered the common room Lilly let out a deep breath, turning to Blaise she wrapped him in a hug than did the same for Draco, thanking the pair she shuffled off to the girls dorms brow furrowed in concentration. Blaise followed her with his eyes until she was out of sight, letting out a sigh he turned to the blonde and asked,

"So, what do you think she's going to do to Parkinson?" Draco gave him a coy smile as he returned the Italian wizards gaze,

"How are your occulmancy barriers?" Looking nonplussed while cocking a eyebrow he said,

"Quite good, my mother insisted," Nodding Draco continued,

"Did Lillith ever tell you her Godfather spent five years in Azkaban?" Shaking his head and giving his friend a queer look he replied,

"Err, no but I did read about it, why?" Smiling a bit indulgently he began walking to the boys dorms and Blaise followed,

"Uncle Sirius perfected the art of torturing his cellmates without ever touching them driving a dozen hardened Death Eaters to suicide, I recently found out from mother that Lilly has spent the past five years training with him and the Black sisters...I'm going to need a pensieve when she's done, father will enjoy this." Smirking in response Blaise had to agree, with their friends intelligence coupled with that skill set...well the next few days should be interesting to say the least.

Lilly padded into the dorm on light feet quietly changing to not wake her roommates, once again stashing her robes and cloak in her trunk she shucked off the rather tasteless gray skirt/jumper combo and slide into her pink pajamas with the little moving golden snitches on them. Pulling her beds curtains aside she cast the usual charms on them when she noticed the small fox sleeping at the foot, grinning she began scratching it behind its ears, as it unconsciously began shaking its leg in enjoyment its brown eyes snapped open. Stretching the fox stood and then dove at Lilly while shifting into her best friend, landing in her lap she of the bushiest hair rose her eyebrows,

"So how did the heist go?" Lilly grimaced and filled her in on the whole ordeal, Hermione's brows furrowed together in anger and she let out a slightly canine growl, much like Sirius did when he was irritated, after a moment she noticed Lilly's calm visage and smirked, "You have a plan, don't you?" Nodding slowly while playing with a locke of Hermiione's hair she explained,

"I'm going to need some help to make it...impressive though, you need to lie to our house of bigots about one of our favorite authors, and I need to get Sally, Sue Li, and Hannah's help, also some polyjuice from dad," eyebrows raising she hopped off Lillys lap and stretched out beside her pulling the blankets up,

"This I have _got_ to hear," in the end it was a very good thing Lilly put up silencing charms, Hermiones laughter was quite contagious.

The next morning during Charms class Lilly received a letter from a house elf ordering her to go to Snape's office after class, alone. Fillius frowned as he overheard her telling her friends this, while he didn't share the Headmaster's concerns about Severus' proclivities he still worried about the daughter of his favorite student. So in that worry he did something very questionably morale, especially for someone as good natured as himself and cast a eavesdropping charm on Lillith's hair band as she bent down to grab her bags; deciding to assuage his conscience he immediately went to Minerva, sighing she shook her head sadly.

"While I wish it wasn't necessary I would like some answers as well and I'm getting none from either of them, I've an idea what's going on but not enough of one, lets...lets listen in on it and work from there, how long does the charm last?" Pulling a loose button from his pocket he cast the spell to actually hear what was said on it before replying,

"An hour, maybe two, I made it very low powered so it wouldn't set off any wards," nodding to her colleague they waited with bated breath until they heard a door creak open,

_"Heyya Professor Snape, you called for me?" _The door slammed close, Snape cleared his throat,

_"Lillith I had a visit from Professor McGonogall last night-,"_ she interrupted cheerfully,

"_Oh, what did Professor Pretty Kitty have to say?"_ Fillius had to cover his mouth to hide the smile that grew as the older woman's eye twitched, Severus sighed deeply then,

_"Lilly, dearest, I sincerely doubt Minerva would appreciate that...pet name,"_ dearest...oh my, what was the nature of this...was Albus right to worry?

_"Pff, like she's going to find out, besides all the names I give my teachers are positive, well, aside from the whiskered meddling bastard but that goes without saying, besides her animagus form is honestly quite pretty."_

"_May I remind you that that your animagus is that of a little baby bird, offending a *sigh* pretty kitty should be low on your priority list_" Huffing she sounded rather indignant as she cut back with,

_"I am NOT a 'little baby bird' daddy, I am a beautiful graceful raven with lustrous black plumage, a glistening beak, and pedicured claws thank you very_ much," Severus' eyeroll was easily imagined, Fillius' leaned back in shock at the 'daddy' implication much less the animagus as the Potions Master drawled back,

_"My mistake dear, and I have no desire to know how your animagus form has a pedicure, and while I hesitate to ask what do you call your other teachers?"_ There was a distinct giggle before the girl replied,

_"Professor Sprout is Madam Greenthumb, Professor Malfoy is The Lady, and Professor Flitwick is Sensei Funsize," _Minerva turned a catty smile his way as his brows knitted together in confusion, apparently Severus was in the same mindset.

_"Sensei...Funsize?" _You could practically hear the girls nodded enthusiasm,

"_Mmhmm, Sensai because he is dueling master and the way he walks reminds me of the wise old masters in Kung Fu movies, and Funsize because well, like the candy bars, he's funsize!"_ Fillius blushed a bit at this while Minerva shook her head in amusement,

"_I...see"_ Severus stated, obviously not really but wanting to move the conversation along, "_Anyway, she tells me you got a detention last night,"_ another deep sigh this one sounding particularly exasperated.

"_Yeah all thanks to that traitorous horrid twat-"_ Severus cut her off here,

"_Young lady, language," _more huffing,

"_That horrible bint-"_

_"No,"_

_"Two timing bitc-"_

_"Lilly," a sigh,_

_"The girl with the only future career option being a semenal fluid depository-"_

_"Ah Miss Parkinson than,"_

_"Quite, anyway she broke the cardinal rule of Slytherin and turned Blaise, Draco, and myself in to that foul creature Filch while we were out last night,"_ Another sigh from the Potions Master.

"_Why were you out past curfew?" _Lilly's tone became defensive,

_"Hey it wasn't like I wanted to do it, Hagrid, bless his wonderful foolish heart hatched a rudding dragon in his shed and I arranged for it to be taken out of country, not my fault Parkinson has it out for me for some weird reason," _Severus let out a scoff,

_"Please she's jealous," _snorting Lilly spat back,

_"What's she got to be jealous of?" _Severus made a tsking noise,

_"The adoring adulation of the masses, the caring attentions of young Mister Malfoy, being one of the highest marked students in the entire school much less your year-"_ Lilly's scathing voice cut him off,

_"And yet the stupid chits parents are still alive and she was never raped by ol' uncle Touchy, yeah, my life is amazing!"_ Fillius sat up straight looking stunned, turning to Minerva she pursed her lips as if only having a fear confirmed, there was a pregnant pause before Severus stated,

_"Lillith I-"_ he was cut off with what sounded like a clatter than some sobbing,

_"I'm sorry daddy I didn't mean to bring...HIM up...I'm sorry,"_ Severus made a low cooing noise and the only sound heard for a few minutes was the occasional sob, eventually it quieted down and the girl spoke again, "I...I hate her daddy...she's horrible, she's...goddess she's everything my Aunts warned me about here, a ladder climber, an untalented opportunist...a waste of space...I shouldn't let her get to me." Severus sighed than said,

"_Lilly there is nothing to be sorry for, what happened to you wasn't your fault it was the Dursley's and Dumbledore, and as for Miss Parkinson well, you're an imaginative young witch, I'm sure you have something...memorable planned for her already." _There was a snicker from her but you could still hear the tears in her voice,

"_I'm...I need to use one of your potions, and no it won't be used on her, my plan is...not something my father would have thought of, too elaborate...you, mum, or Uncle Padfoot? You three would like it,"_ Severus sighed playfully before replying,

_"As if I could deny you anything, just promise me she isn't damaged permanently and we'll see,"_ another pause,

"_Define, 'permanently' daddy..."_ and with that the spell wore out, Fillius was staring down at his hands for a few minutes then met Minerva's eyes,

"Albus will never hear of this," she nodded quickly,

"Agreed."

Lilly's detention was soon scheduled for the following Saturday, this gave her a few days to work out her plan, it took some finesse to get the three girls necessary for the scheme together, mostly Sue Li because while cordial with each other they hadn't spoken much, the small Chinese girl did share her hatred for Pansy though so there was that. Hermione was currently performing her part of the plan, the common room was mostly full at the moment so she took the time to read Draco and Blaise a story about a wizard who was haunted by the loss of his dead love, no one in the room had to know that Edgar Allen Poe was in fact a muggle and 'The Raven' was not a true telling. Turning to the two blondes and ravenette Lilly waved cautiously as they walked into an empty classroom, making sure the door was locked she spun around and clapped once.

"Ok! So as it ends up you three all happen to have free periods on specific days that Parkinson and I have class, this is an action of psychological warfare, never once will she suspect you three to be involved and your part will actually make it so I'm not culpable." Sally smirked while adjusting her glasses,

"You know I can't stand that little twit so I'm in regardless, but whats the end goal?" Hanna toed the floor nervously but didn't avert her gaze from Lilly's eyes as she added,

"And...and she's not going to be hurt is she?" Bless the little Hufflepuff's heart, Lilly would be shocked if she didn't end up becoming a healer, turning to Sue Li the Chinese girl was giving her polite attention to continue so she did.

"No, not physically, my goal is to drive her to the edge of madness and have no one to blame for it, once the weekend comes around it will all end and she'll be wondering for years if she imagined it, afterwords anytime she acts up I'll activate her trigger putting her into a panic attack. Is it cruel? In a word, yes. Do I particularly care? No, not really. You three will be playing me with the use of polyjuice potion while I do what I need to, yes I know it means extra classes for you but Hermione and I are willing to give you any help with class work you need in exchange for your aid." Sue Li smirked a bit at this,

"So, in the end we just have to sit in class and observe her being driven to the brink while acting as confused as the rest of the class?" Nodding quickly all three girls grinned at once, and stated,

"I'm in," queue Tom's maniacal cackle,

_"Your time at Hogwarts has already been so much more memorable than mine little one, well shall we delve into madness?" _Grinning she agreed with disembodied voice in her head, her Marauder side was about to rear its vicious head for the first time and chaos would follow.

Pansy entered her room that evening a bit unsettled, that mudblood bitch Granger had been reading _her_ Draco and that foreigner Zabini an old poem book, she hadn't caught the authors name but the story of the raven terrorizing the poor heartbroken wizard had gotten to her. Changing she ignored the Carrows who shared a mutual dislike with her and Bulstrode who could be categorized as the female version of Nott's lackeys Crabbe and Goyle before slipping into bed, she'd just begun to drift off to sleep when she heard a rapping on her bed frame.

Opening irritated eyes the pug faced girl sat up looking around in annoyance but the tapping had stopped, grumbling she curled back up when she heard it bloody _again_, growling she once again sat up, this process repeated several times causing her to circle her bed looking for the cause of her insomnia, finding nothing she sat on her bed groaning out,

"Am I ever going to get any sleep," the words,

"Nevermore," were whispered beside her, turning quickly she saw a raven sitting on her pillow staring at her, its emerald eyes boring into her soul, she wanted to scream but it caught in her throat, the raven cocked its head and silently took flight then vanished in thin air. Pansy sat in bed with her knees to her chest and curtains closed the rest of the night, looking about the enclosed space in constant panic waiting for the morning light. The next day found her red eyed and disheveled, she'd gone to class and as she began to zone out listening to Professor Sprout she heard tapping on the planting bed next to her, jumping back she stared at it wild eyed while Potter and Granger eyed her quizzically.

"You all right there Parkinson?" Potter asked with genuine concern, Pansy snapped back with heated hatred,

"Shut your filthy mouth you half-blood bint," cocking a brow her ravenette rival (who had absolutely no idea that was her status with the other girl) tilted her head and turned away ignoring the comment, Pansy _hated_ being ignored. She heard the tapping throughout the day and felt her nerves unraveling, no one else heard it, no one, only her, leaning against the wall of the corridor she muttered,

"Is this ever going to stop?" She heard a ruffling and looked up to see the raven from the night before standing atop the head of a suit of armor, it cocked its head and clearly stated,

"Nevermore," Pansy screamed and ran through the hall, reactivating her invisibility cloak Lilly cawed in amusement as she winged her way to the great hall for lunch. This continued for the rest of the week leaving Pansy jittery and on edge, when Friday rolled around she was jumping at the slightest noises and looked like she hadn't changed once since her ordeal started. Truth be told, Lilly felt kind of bad, she had no idea she would be so good at driving her enemies insane. It ended up that _stopping_ the harassment had been what sent the girl over the edge and ending up in the infirmary, she'd been diagnosed with having a mental breakdown and Madam Pomfrey was actually considering sending her to Saint Mungo's.

"Holy shit," Lilly flatly stated at lunch when she heard this, Draco, Blaise, Hermione, and her three conspirators were all sitting on the empty side of one of the Hufflepuff tables, poor Hannah looked awful, sure she disliked the bigoted Parkinson but she never thought she'd be part of driving the poor girl insane. Sue Li was gently rubbing her back trying to soothe her nerves while Sally was grinning openly highly amused at the entire situation,

"I know right? We should do this more often, there's this bitch in Ravenclaw, Cho, she likes to bully under years we should do her next," Hermione sighed while buttering a slice of toast,

"Language Sally, and I don't know Cho, who is she?" The silent Sue spoke up,

"Oh Sally's right, she's a bitch, she's our house quiditch team seeker and quite stuck up, my family and hers tentatively associate due to our shared heritage but the lot of them are quite 'Holier Than Thou'." Draco and Blaise were for their part quietly observing the girls seeing as far as they were concerned they were simple observers, amused observers for sure, but still just observers, both boys turned to Lilly to hear her reaction to the Chinese girls statement,

"Hmm, we'll wait till next year I think, Draco and I will be trying out for the team so if I can get on as seeker and build a rivalry it will be more fun to knock her down a peg or six," Hannah shook her head sadly at this,

"Can...can I just watch? I won't turn you guys in but seeing Pansy fall apart like that...I don't want to be responsible for that again..." Smiling sadly to the Hufflepuff Lilly nodded slowly,

"I'm sorry Hannah, I really am I had no idea she'd self destruct like that, Little Dragon you grew up with her was she always so...easily manipulated?" The blonde boy scoffed while rolling his mercury gray eyes,

"I wouldn't know, all she would talk about was marrying her prince charming while giving me cow eyes, her lifes goal is seriously to just marry into power, I don't think you actually had to exert the effort you did to destroy her mind," grimacing Lilly sipped her juice while twirling her wand in her off hand, eventually she just shrugged,

"Oops."

That Saturday her bookends (Hermione's words not hers) followed her out to their detention, Pansy had been exempted due to well...insanity, so they were escorted by the silently glowering Filch to Hagrid's cabin, the giant man looked down at his charges with concern before turning to Filch,

"Are ya sure teh Headmaster said teh take these three wit' me out to the forest?" Sneering Filch turned around and headed back to the castle ignoring the Gamekeepers question entirely, sighing he looked back to the trio smiling wanly, "Pleasant chap tha' Filch it'nt he?" Smirking Lilly nodded slightly. Turning he picked up a crossbow that you'd be hard pressed to convince Lilly wasn't a siege weapon he turned back to the children while frowning, "Somethin's... somethin's been go'in after teh unicorns in the Forbidden Forest, we're going to patrol for a bit, I was going to do some serious searching but..." he looked Lilly in the eyes and shook his head, "We ain't do'in anythin' that dangerous." You could feel the relief rolling off both Draco and Blaise, Lilly turned to her enoromous friend and smiled up to him,

"Why not just do our patrol and we can come back, I'll play guitar for you if you can keep up with your flute," grinning down at the small girl he ruffled her hair affectionately and walked ahead of them, dutifully the trio followed him.

"The forest has all sorts o' creatures init, don' know fer sure if all o' them are native but mos' o' them are dangerous to one extent or another, oh if we run into any centaurs be polite and lemme do teh talkin', they're a prickly bunch." Silently nodding Lilly and in turn the boys got closer to Hagrid as the cloying darkness of the silent woods surrounded them, after about a half hour Blaise asked,

"Umm...Hagrid, back home the forests and woods were always filled with noise, why are they so quiet now?" The large man turned around and met the Italian boys eyes,

"There's somethin' out here...be still li'l ones..." They followed growing fearful, without thinking about it she took both boys hands in hers, giving them a reassuring squeeze, that seemed to help all three of them to an extent, Tom than spoke up for the first time that evening.

_"Love, there's something out here I can feel...well I don't know exactly what it is, but its close,"_ inhaling sharply both boys looked at her quickly, in the dead silence of the forest it was quite noticeable, she glanced to both of them and released their hands. She gulped slowly and whispered,

"Wands out," as she said this she drew her mothers wand in her right hand and her Black Dagger in the left, noticing this Draco's eyes widened and he mirrored her actions but his dagger was held in a underhanded grip. As the cloud cover cleared they saw the clearing before them light in the moons glow, and the quartet froze in midstep seeing a shadowed figure leaning over the prone form of a motionless unicorn, Hagrid needed no prompting and shouldered his crossbow aiming at the cloaked mass of shadow.

"Stand up! Hands up!" The figure fluidly took to its feet staring at the group, then as if on skates it slid towards them in a flash, Hagrid's crossbow bolt was quickly deflected and the shadow threw the giant man into the trunk of a tree knocking the air out of him, turning to the children it charged towards them hissing menacingly. Lilly's head was throbbing but she pushed it aside as she found her focus, this _thing_ had hurt her friend, was going to try and hurt _her_ Draco and _her_ Blaise both who were desperately throwing useless hexes at it trying to protect her. Nothing. Hurt. What. Was. Hers. Eyes glowing in rage she fell back onto her default for all dangerous situations and roared,

"INCENDIO!" The super charged fire starting charm looked like a flamethrower from one of those BBC war documentaries, the shadowed figure roared in agony, as the clearing was ignited into an inferno, she stepped forward never once silencing her bellowing challenge. She was the bloody _DARK LADY_ this _thing_ would not hurt what was hers, with that thought she felt the dark reserves within her expand, Tom was seething that she was in danger and practically in awe as she channeled the rage of her very soul turning a simple charm into something so much more. As the fire petered out there was silence aside from the crackling of the fires, huffing loudly she was about to turn to Hagrid when the figure flew from the flames on a jet of black smoke grabbing her, screaming she was carried about the tree tops her rage turning to terror as they sped along.

Eventually she snapped out off it and began stabbing the figure with her dagger, she felt the satisfying squelch of blood and flesh parting as the blade dug into the things guts, screaming in agony it let her go, as she fell back down into the forest and was slapped around by the tree branches flashing past her her last thought was how beautiful the moon looked as she slammed into something unyielding, then it all went dark.

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><p><strong>FINALLY! Goddess I've wanted to get to this since I started, heh, hope you all enjoyed, PLEASE REVIEW!<strong>


	12. Chapter 12- Mother's of Our Past

**A MESSAGE FROM THE AUTHOR-** So a little back story on what gave me the idea of Lillith being of the Fey (outside of her name obviously) if you'll indulge me, I watched the movie 'Merlin' when I was a kid, the one starring Sam Neil and it hooked me on the Arthur legends. Well I loved Morgan le Fay, I thought she was an interesting if sad character, years later when I went to go see HP:OotP who is playing the bat shit insane crazy awesome axe murderer Death Eater Bellatrix LeStrange? Why no other than the lovely Helena Bonham Carter who played Morgan on Merlin!

So with that in mind I mulled how I could work with that, what if the Black's were direct descendants of Morgana le Fey (always preferred that spelling and there's soooo many varients) who after getting sick of Merlin's shit threw her hands up in the air walked away from Avalon and changed her name becoming one of The Thirteen founding families in the first permanent Magical British government.

Being who and what she was she set a spell that the true heir of the House of Black (and in truth the House of le Fey) will be a woman who like her can embrace the Dark being powered by anger and hatred while being anchored by love and a desire to protect as to never lose herself in either, unfortunately the Blacks took the pure blood thing to heart trying to breed the next heiress. Throw in a millennium of misinformation, pro-Merlin propaganda and wizards lacking anything resembling common sense and we see the near extinction of the Black line and it's fading into the pages of history.

Than along came Lilly, the Heiress of Potter, the descendants of Peverell who outsmarted Death and all but her ancestor, the owner of Death's own cloak, avoided paying for his cunning until he was well and ready to. The Heiress of Evans (Which oddly enough means 'Young Warrior, fitting), who is truly the last of Slytherin, the most cunning and vicious of the ancient founding families and whose grandsire helped build Europe's greatest magical school. Than made the Heiress of Black by her loving godfather, unknowing that in his affection for his dead friends daughter he had marked her for true greatness, greatness that she would have to pay a toll for in the years to come.

This is going to be ever so much fun.

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><p><strong><em>Willow is an uncommon wood for wands, many wizards will confidently saunter into my shop and attempt to claim a willow wand for themselves due to their reputation for advanced non-verbal magic than leave in a fury when the wand rejects them. Funny thing about willow, it will only choose those who have insecurities about themselves but are capable of hiding it from everyone else with a veneer of confidence, and this witch or wizard must have the desire to learn, they must realize they are on the path to greatness, yet have not met it quite yet. In my time as a wand maker I've only found three people capable of wielding such wands, and they have all done terrible yet great things, as my family has said for generations, <em>_he who has furthest to travel will go fastest with willow.- _Garrick Ollivander**

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><p>The first thing to pierce the fog of sleep Lilly found herself in was a low melodious tune, after a time the cotton seemed to be pulled from her ears slowly as the tune became a song, and than she registered the beautiful voice singing it. Opening sleep crusted eyes Lilly found herself staring up into the waxing moon, a few more days and Uncle Remus would find himself curled up watching romance comedies with Aunt Bella; never let it be said she didn't know how to take advantage of her husbands inability to leave the house on the full moon.<p>

With that mildly amusing thought she finally registered that she was laying in a bed of sweet smelling grass and flowers while someone was stroking her hair like her family did when she was upset, looking about without moving she realized that her head was laying in the lap of the singer that had awoken her. The woman had an ethereal quality to her, with milk white skin, plaited silver hair exposing pointed ears, and eerily glowing blue eyes staring up at the moon, and while Lilly's Gaelic wasn't the best she realized the woman was praying in a very ancient dialect.

Shifting ever so slightly the woman paused and looked down at Lilly, her sparkling sapphire eyes shown at her with affection as she stroked Lilly's cheek while speaking for the first time,

"Well little fairy when I left my willow for my evening prayers I never expected to have a child rather crassly crash into my glade, normally I'd have just written it off as mortal foolishness but this-" she lifted Lilly's Fey stone held in its silver cage hanging from the chain Hannah had given her, "-caught my eye." Still smiling she placed it in Lilly's hands lighting the area with an amethyst glow as it touched her skin, "To think I'd find one of my lost sisters descendants on a night when Mars is in full march..." Lillys eyes widened as she processed everything that had been said and gasped out,

"Sidhe Draoi!" Smirking the tree nymph nodded sagely,

"Quite astute little one, you most certainly have Morgana's insight at the very least, now normally my kind avoid humans at all costs, but it seems this encounter was destined so I decided to offer aid." Lilly screwed up her face at this,

"Destined?" The nymph laughed in true amusement at the girls incredulous look,

"Of course little fairy, what is the likelihood that a daughter of Morgana would find one of the few remaining crystal focei not destroyed by your ministry of these wonderful isles and end up crashing quite literally on my doorstop on the only evening of the year this particular glade is in sync with your world?" Lilly decided to concede that point, sitting up she realized she wasn't hurt, which all things considered didn't really seem right with the whole falling to her death thing, shakily taking to her feet the nymph helped her steady herself.

"I...I see, I don't really, but I'm trying," smiling again the nymph curtsied, her gown was as silvery as her hair and seemed to radiate an inner glow as if made from spun moonlight,

"Allow me to introduce myself, I am Ciara, and who may you be?" Lillith laughed a bit,

"You want all the titles?" Ciara nodded an affirmative, taking a deep breath she continued,

"I am the Lady of Slytherin Lillith Dorea Potter-Peverell-Black, I usually just go with Lilly Potter though, far less of a mouthful," the tree nymph was giving her a very queer look that made the young girl shift uncomfortably.

"Lilith...yes you'd have to be wouldn't you..." clearly uncomfortable Lilly toed the ground a bit before changing the subject,

"So if you don't mind me asking, how did I survive that fall with no injuries, and what can you tell me about that...thing that survived being torched and carried me off?" Ciara shook her head as if clearing her thoughts before smiling again,

"Well to answer the first, you were quite banged up but if you're familiar with wandlore willow has an affinity for healing, that of course comes from our kind, luckily you didn't break any bones that would have taken time even for me to patch up. To answer the second, well you might want to ask that rather charming voice in your head when you leave, he has his suspicions I suspect." She paused and shook her head in amusement, her giggle sounded like tinkling bells, "Rarely would I suggest someone obey what the voices in their head tell them to do but follow his instructions little fairy, he only has your best interests in mind." Reeling a bit from this she called out to Tom but got no response, assuming it had something to do with...whatever this glade was supposed to be she shrugged it off for the moment.

"Curious and curiousor..." she muttered to herself, she felt around for her wand and knife and began to panic when she found neither, Ciara laughed a bit and extended a hand towards her holding both items.

"Willow and phoenix feather...and it's quite fond of you, most witches don't give that sort of care to their wands," sighing in relief Lilly felt the comfortable warmth shoot up her arm as she took up her wand and the reassuring weight of the dagger as she slid it into its sheath. Looking up she stated,

"It was my mum's, she died to protect me so I honor her memory in the ways I can, don't have much from dad though...bloody Umbridge..." nodding sadly Ciara looked at her oddly a moment and seemed to come to a decision, approaching the large tree in the center of the glade the nymph put her hand gently against its bark. As light passed into the tree one of its limbs flexed down, Lilly took a step back very aware what a whomping willow could do since she'd nearly been taken out by the one at Hogwarts while flying in her raven form.

Ciara grasped the offered limb as a glow passed through it, when it faded she turned to Lilly and approached her holding what looked like a wand blank, the handle though was incomplete, it was splayed open with seven distinct offshoots. Smiling she offered it to the small girl,

"Yes...Destiny...such a fickle cruel Mistress, though far more accommodating then Fate, self righteous prat with his woolly prophecies... Sorry, seeing as you already wield the willow of your mother, I offer the willow of my heart tree, when the time comes and you find your wands core and it is complete place a drop of your blood in the handle and insert your focei crystal. You will find the end result...interesting to say the least," wide eyed Lilly took the offered stick of wood and felt the warmth she usually got from her mother's wand but it felt so much more in tune.

"Tha-thank you!" Smiling at the girl fondly Ciara stroked her hair a few times before backing away,

"Your friends will be here in a moment, you and I will not see each other again I'm sad to say, we make it a point to avoid humans in normal situations, speak of this to only those you trust with all your heart, fare thee well daughter of Morgana, and may the Goddess bless you." There was a flash of light and Lilly suddenly found herself back in the Forbidden Forest, the all encompassing gloom suffocating after spending time in the enchanted glade.

"LILLY! ANSWER ME CHILD!" She heard Hagrid bellow fear obvious in his voice, smiling sadly for her friends she stowed the wand blank in her belt pouch and pulled out her mum's firing red sparks into the air. Less then thirty seconds later she was tackled by her tear stained boys, all attempts at keeping aloof composure gone, their voices were tinged with panicked relief as they began showering her with questions,

_"Tom, you get all that?" _There was a very deep sigh,

_"Yes, and I'm sorry I couldn't respond to you, she was quite adamant that I not interfere,"_ nodding inwardly she looked up in time to see a sobbing Hagrid rush up to her and pull her into a bone crushing hug. Sighing to Tom she mentally shook her head,

_"This is going to be a very long night, why can't things be simple?"_ He scoffed at that,

_"Oh please you thrive off chaos, if this were a normal boarding school you'd have burnt it to the ground just to mix things up months ago,"_ there was no need for reply, she knew he was right. As she was escorted back to the castle a thought made it to her lips bypassing her brain,

"Filch is so dead," much to her surprise neither the boys nor Hagrid disagreed with her.

Minerva McGonogall was not an easily flappable woman, it came from surviving two wars, thousands of hormonal students, and her personal pride, that being said when she found out that Filch, that vindictive idiot, had sent her great-grandniece and the heirs to both the Malfoy and Zabini lines out into the Forbidden Forest in the dead of night she felt her heart skip a beat. Worst, how did she find out about it? A panicking Hermione Granger had rushed up to her demanding in quite a bossy manner what she was thinking sending her friends out there for a detention,

"I'm afraid Miss Granger you have me at a loss," the girls bushy hair seemed to get more so as honest anger reflected back from her brown eyes, her normally accommodating top student looked ready to try and hex her Professor right there,

"I just talked to Blaise, Filch dropped off the three of them with Hagrid and told him the Headmaster said to take them with him to check on the 'Unicorn problem,' Hagrid, _Hagrid_ asked him if he was sure but Filch just left them out there, they were attacked and whatever it was broke two of Hagrid's ribs and carried off Lilly!" Minerva's eyes widened in shocked horror, no, not the last of her family, not James daughter, no...gulping she tried to keep a stern visage but her voice slipped causing one of Miss Granger's brows to raise.

"I assure you Miss Granger the Headmaster ordered no such thing, did they find Li-Lilly?" Still seething but seeming a bit mollified the girl nodded,

"I don't know the full story but apparently while in mid flight she stabbed...whatever it was and it dropped her, Blaise said she caught a thirty meter wide patch of forest on fire trying to kill it before it took off with her, whatever it may have been it was strong." Gulping Minerva nodded quickly,

"Am I assuming that your friends are in the infirmary?" Hermione nodded quickly, her eyes oddly reflective showing a predatory gleam,

"Yes, the Weasley twins, Neville, and Sally-Anne are standing guard over her right now, somehow they knew the three of them were out in the woods and Lilly had been separated, they ran into them at the gates when they returned, apparently they were going to try and mount a rescue." At this Miss Granger's anger seemed to abate a bit and she smiled affectionately, "Foolish Lions...glad we have them." Stifling the pride she felt for her students willingness to protect a friend, especially a _Slytherin_ Minerva nodded and began walking to the hospital wing,

"We tend to be protective of our own Miss Granger, I will forgive the brusqueness of your inquiry in light of what happened but in the future I suggest you keep your composure," the girl blushed at that while mumbling an apology. Minerva waved it off, honestly if Lilly could claim this kind of protective loyalty from her friends she had nothing negative to say about it, right now she just needed to make sure the last of her family was well. As they entered the infirmary Minerva was a bit nonplussed seeing not only her Lions but a pair of Hufflepuff's and a Ravenclaw girl standing around an exasperated looking Lillith's bed, she met the Deputy Headmistresses eyes and she could feel the pleading rolling off those emerald orbs. Clearing her throat she gained the rooms attention,

"While I appreciate the concern you are all showing for Miss Potter I must insist you all return to your dorms, it is well past curfew, if anyone asks as you return to your dorms, tell them to come to me." Seemingly mollified by this the group gave their wishes to Lilly and filed out of the room, the trio of Slytherin's made no move to leave, she fully expected this and didn't even bother commenting on it. Approaching the bed she gave Lilly a small smile,

"How are you doing child?" The girl gave her a wan grin in return while shaking her head,

"A bit overwhelmed, D-Professor Snape has already been here and gone, apparently he is tracking down Filch and dragging him up to the Headmasters office, I'd pay to see that confrontation but alas Fuhrer Pompfrey insists I stay put for the evening." Resisting the urge to snort at the girls description of the resident medi-witch Minerva nodded slightly in acknowledgment,

"Very well than, I will be expecting a full explanation of what happened this evening tomorrow," her severe expression gave way to a soft smile as she looked at Lilly's friends, "You three may stay here for the evening if you wish." With that she excused herself, once leaving the room she cast a disillusionment on herself and shifted to her tabby cat form, padding quietly back into the room she hid underneath one of the beds and listened silently to the four Slytherins. Lilly sighed and dropped back onto her pillows, Hermione curled up on the bed next to her pulling her into a hug, Blaise and Draco both sat on the bed worry written on their faces, eventually Lilly returned Hermione's hug and shuddered a bit letting out the tension that had kept her moving to this point. After a few moments she broke the embrace and sat up, eventually Draco spoke up,

"Lilly, do...do you know what that thing was?" Rubbing her temples Lilly mulled over whether to tell them Tom's hunch or not, deciding to put her faith in her friends she let out a shuddering sigh before replying,

"It was Voldemort..." The three Slytherin's and one cat sat upright at this revelation, "I...it's something to do with my scar, where he marked me, I can feel his presence... he was drinking the unicorns blood when we found him, it can give you an extended life but...well..." Blaise shook his head before speaking,

"But you'll be cursed for eternity for defiling such a pure creature...par for the course I suppose nothing was too depraved for You-Know-Who," Lilly gave him a sour look at that,

"Please as someone who has to live with a ridiculously hyphenated title just call him by name or the Dark Lord if you prefer, I'm sure it even annoyed him that he was referred to as 'He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named,' I mean really being terrified of an anagram is just silly." This got Draco's attention, his father's association with Lord Voldemort was something that their group tried not to bring up especially since Lilly was actually very fond of the blonde man, not being able to help himself he asked,

"What do you mean Lilly?" She sighed and asked for some parchment and a quill, she quickly wrote out 'Tom Marvolo Riddle' then 'I am Lord Voldemort,' as her friends stared down at it incredulously, eventually Draco slowly stated, "Riddle...Riddle isn't a Pure-Blood name..." Lilly sighed and looked a bit regretful before she stated,

"No...it's muggle...he was a Half-Blood...like me...well not quite like me, my mum descended from Slytherin squibs, his father was one hundred percent pure muggle, kind of depressing how self hating he'd become, kind of reminded me of Hitler and his Jewish heritage honestly..." The room remained silent as the boys processed this and Minerva goggled at the revelation that a former classmate of hers was the Dark Lord, Hermione didn't look surprised though, more then likely Lilly had already confided in her.

Sighing Lilly played with a strand of her hair before continuing, "Anyway I'm guessing that flying thing was using the 'fuming' technique, heard dark wizards could pull that off, useful, anyway I stabbed him, it, whatever in the gut a few times and fell back into the forest and passed out. When I came to I was pretty much lost but then you two found me," with that she gave the boys a brilliant smile that caused both of them to blush, stretching out she fell back onto the bed with her hands behind her head, "Guys lets get some sleep, we'll write this off as a bad job and deal with it tomorrow." Getting agreement from her friends the boys decided to sleep in the beds beside hers but Hermione made no motions of moving, use to her friends clingy nature when worried about the ravenette Lilly just threw the blankets over them and soon fell asleep, Minerva left the room to contemplate the evenings revelations.

One thing was for certain she was going to ignore Albus' insistence that she not share her relationship with her great-grandniece any longer, she'd already nearly lost her twice this year and she would no longer risk not getting to know her last remaining family member because He-With-Too-Many-Bloody-Names said so.

The next few days passed in a blur for Lillith, Filch had been put on probation and had his ability to assign detentions removed, frankly she just wanted to Avada Kedavra him and be done with it but no one had asked her, probably for the best really. Her first guitar session with her dad after that fateful detention was mostly spent being hugged into submission, it was sweet if annoying, outside of that not much happened other than cramming for exams and dealing with the fact Quirrell had once again become useless. Honestly if the year wasn't almost out at this point she'd probably get rid of him but it was largely pointless now, that and she was rather disappointed in him, she'd grown to rather like the man since Samhain. As exams ground to an end Lilly was finally free to relax a bit so she opted to hang out by the lake soaking in the afternoon sunshine with a large group of her friends.

She was leaning against the large maple tree near the lakes shore with Sally's head resting in her lap as the bespectacled blonde read a sci-fi novel, Sue Li and Blaise were on either side of her also leaning against the tree while Draco, Hermione, Hannah and Neville were tossing scraps of food out to the giant squid. Lilly pulled a face at the thing, she'd watched some rather disturbing cartoons on the video cassettes she'd found in Nymphadora's room last year involving school girls and tentacles so the squid just creeped her the hell out. As she lazed about Tom spoke up sounding panicked,

"_Uh, Lillith, love, dearest, I do believe the other me is about to go after the Philosophers stone,"_ looking up sharply she asked,

_"How do you know?"_ Sighing he shook his head,

_"Because I just became unreasonably happy for no reason,"_ pausing Lilly remembered the vile creature that tried to hurt her friends, that had thrown her to her death into the Forbidden Forest, looking up at group that should be enemies yet were allies she nodded slowly, shifting enough to get Sally to sit up the group turned to their nominal leader as she stood giving them a fierce smile.

"So...you guys wanna go find out what's in the third floor corridor of the transfiguration wing?"

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><p><strong>I really love writing this story, chapters a bit shorter than last but I have to go out for a few hours so figured I'd throw this out for you guys, hope you enjoyed. Oh as an aside if you're all wondering, Harry loved both his parents but fixated on James, so I just flipped it with the gender change which actually gave me a lot of leeway. In my headcannon Lily Potter nee Evans was a genius bordering on madness whose love for her daughter was so pure and well...vengeful that she defied every law and convention to protect her, that protective nature is in her daughter as well. Anyway, please REVIEW, hopefully have another chapter up in a few days unless I'm inspired by something.<strong>

**OH! the whole thing with the willow wands and the like was from Pottermore, the Tree Nymph and all that was Celtic mythology, hope you all liked it!**


	13. Chapter 13- Friends, Allies, Family

**I may need to do some re-editing tomorrow but I'm too tired to go over this again at the moment and I still don't have a beta, hope you all enjoy and please REVIEW!**

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><p>Severus Snape was enjoying a relaxing afternoon in the teachers lounge sipping his luncheon tea while grading finals papers for the various dunderheads of the student population, currently he was on the Weasley twins work and was forced to roll his eyes for a third year in a row. The two playacted being completely inadequate in the field of potions during the entire term, purposely losing points and marks for the day to give them a 'Devil May Care' persona with the student population. Than, on the one test of the year that <em>actually<em> meant anything to their permanent records they blew their entire years curve by acing the final going in so far as to offer advice on how to improve the potion in question in the margins. He never thought he'd say this, but he really wished those two had just bit the bullet and gone Slytherin, this in mind he glanced up at the door hearing a faint knock.

Fillius and Minerva shared the room with him and they looked up in unison, the Deputy Headmistress stood and approached the door, opening it she seemed a bit startled seeing who it was.

"Mister Zabini, Miss Abbot, how can I help you?" Severus leaned to the side to see past Minerva and Hannah looked near tears while Blaise looked bored, unless one looked at his eyes, they showed true concern. Miss Abbot stammered out,

"Pr-pro-professor, may we speak to you?" Nodding she let the two students in, it wasn't until they were inside that the three faculty members realized Mister Zabini was playing bodyguard, eyeing the corners of the room and standing just slightly in front and to the side of Miss Abbot, curious.

"Of course dear, what is it that brings you here today?" Taking in a deep breath the Hufflepuff girl tried to remain calm and much to the three professors shock Blaise placed a comforting hand on her shoulder and gave it a squeeze. The blonde threw the Italian boy a thankful smile before continuing,

"It's, it's about Lillith ma'am, Lillith Potter," Snape sat up ramrod straight at this as the girl continued, "She figured that since the terms over why not find out what the Headmaster was 'Hiding' in the third floor of the transfiguration wing. She mentioned how if we really weren't supposed to go there than, and I quote 'Why the bloody hell did he announce to an entire castle of children that they weren't supposed to go there.' Anyway..." she took a deep breath and contuined, "We went into the corridor and the door was open, when we looked inside..."

At this the girl broke down crying and buried her head in Blaise's shoulder, sobs wracking her shoulders, the boy rubbed his hand up and down her back trying to calm her, sighing he turned his gaze to his head of house and continued for the distraught girl.

"The door had already been blown off its hinges, there was a guard dog," at this he winced a bit as Hannah dug her nails into his shoulder, "rather, what was left of a guard dog, Lilly said it was hellhound and it had been hit with the mother of all reductor curses...so much blood..." This caused the three adults to exchange shocked glances as the boy tried to collect himself, he raised his free hand and it was holding a large wadded up strip of purple fabric.

Clearing his throat he continued as fast as he could, "We found this near the blown up trap door by the co-corpse, Hermione says it's Professor Quirrell's turban, when Lilly saw it and well...saw how the two of us reacted to the hellhound she asked us to find you three and give you this." He dropped the tattered fabric and prying a folded piece of parchment from Hannah's hand offering it to Minerva, she read it quickly and gasped, looking the two children over she nodded quickly,

"Fifty points to Slythering and Fifty points to Hufflepuff, Mister Zabini please escort Miss Abbot to the infirmary, thank you for your help," nodding quickly the boy shot Severus a knowing look and led the blonde off. Minerva handed the parchment to Fillius who grew stony faced as he handed it off to Severus, hopping down from his chair the diminutive professor flexed his right hand and his wand fell into place. Severus picked the note up and felt his heart spasm as he read his daughters handwriting,

_"It would appear that Headmaster Meddler didn't anticipate Voldemort possessing a faculty member, Fluffy is dead and I can smell smoke below me so I can only assume that he's blasted his way through the first defense. I don't have time to wait for you all so I sent some trusted friends to retrieve you, the Dark Lord must not get the Philosophers Stone, why that fool of a Headmaster made it into a spectacle is beyond me. If we don't make it, tell my family I love them more than anything,_

_With Regards,_

_Lilly Potter and Friends_

Sue Li was coughing lightly as she shook the soot off her robes, Draco was helping Hermione out off the smoldering remains of what looked like devils snare as Lilly, Neville, and Sally examined the enclosed area. Lilly turned to Neville raising a brow,

"You're the gardening savant here dear godbrother, thoughts?" Neville scowled while holding his chin contemplating the mess before them as their friends righted themselves,

"I don't like it, devils snare is a great defense for garden walls, or patches along a manor near the windows to keep out casual observers, it's rudding useless in enclosed spaces all it takes is a bright flash or-" he cut off glancing to the smoldering vegetation, "fire to put it down. I really don't see this as a viable defense." Draco walked towards them flanked by Sue and Hermione, his normally pristine face smeared in ash as he drawled,

"Well at least we know why everyone in our year had to grow the things, pity they gave _first years_ the know how on how to bypass it..." Lilly thought he looked quite dashing with a bit of dirt on him, rather rugged, shrugging that thought off she glanced to Hermione who shook her head slowly.

"I feel like this was some sort of setup, Professor Sprout has specimens that would be considered biological weapons in the muggle world, why use something this mundane to protect...anything?" The three girls who had remained quiet said nothing, they could only agree and had nothing to add, turning to the door Sue Li gestured towards its fire charred surface.

"Shall we?" Nodding the six students pushed the crumbling door open and entered a corridor, what sounded like aggravated buzzing filled their ears before they found themselves in a large room swarming with small birds. The far end housed a door that had been blown off its hinges, several brooms lay scattered on the floor around the broken oaken planks and bent iron straps.

"Subtle," Sally quipped, the six looked up into the swarm of birds that ended up being enchanted winged keys, "So I'm assuming first room was a defense Professor Sprout put in place and this was Professor Flitwick's, whoever is ahead of us just refuses to play by the rules." The group nodded in agreement as they pushed through the blasted barricade, fumbling around in the dark they finally made it into another large,room, dominating its center was a massive chess board complete with pieces.

Lilly swallowed a bit as the black pieces across the room followed her friends with their heads, almost quivering in anticipation of bloodshed, Sue Li spoke up quietly,

"I assume this is Professor McGonagall's...it appears we are to take some pieces places, are any of you good at this game?" The group exchanged weary looks as they mulled this over, Lilly herself enjoyed the game but despised how people treated it like a real world indicator of tactical prowess. Really, can you hire an assassin to frame the Queen for the murder of the King? Can you expose the Bishops sexual deviancy to knock them from power or subvert the pawns with the promise of riches? No, it had no real world applications in her opinion so she really put no effort into it. Neville cleared his throat then,

"I'm...proficient, my uncles insisted I learn it as a proper gentleman and Ronald is obsessed with it, the only way to get the boy to shut it is to play a few games with him..." Nodding she patted her Godbrother on the arm as he began giving assignments. "Sue, why not take that bishop, you do like to come at people from the side unexpectedly. Hermione the rook? Fitting for you, straight forward and all, Sally take the knight ok? Draco, you take the queen and Lilly the king I'll take the final knight." Lilly stared at the empty spot she was supposed to take a moment before replying,

"Why am I the most useless piece Nev?" He turned to her his face completely free of any emotion,

"Because you're far too important to all of us to risk your safety," eyes widening as her friends all nodded she could only gape as Draco pushed her into position, glowering at her godbrother she huffed and crossed her arms,

"I'll get you for this dear brother," he smiled at her as he took his position and bowed lightly,

"And you'll be alive to do so dear sister," the following game was...heart wrenching, both Sue and Sally were taken out early on, Hermione was clipped but the year of martial arts training she had spent with Lillith and Sirius hadn't been a waste and she avoided most of the damage. Draco gulped as he realized the only move that would give them a checkmate, Neville actually looked horrified as the blonde stared down the rook protecting the black king. Draco sighed and nodded,

"Well...hopefully I get away with just a concussion," before Lillith or Hermione could stop him (and they totally would have) Draco sacrificed himself taking down the rook and than getting clobbered by the king, Neville finished the game by taking the king and the group rushed up to their downed friend. Dragging him over to Sue and Sally the three stared down at their friends in horror,

"I...Goddess I just wanted to explore I didn't want to race a murderous bastard to the end of this sacrificing my friends!" Lilly yelled with very real fear written across her face, Hermione and Neville wrapped her in their arms as they watched their prone friends for movement, after a few minutes Sally began to stir. She cracked open her eyes and sat up slowly, pushing up her glasses with her middle finger she turned to Neville and raised a single brow to him,

"Proficient? I hate to see what you consider poor Nev," that was enough to break the tension and they had a bit of a laugh, Sue eventually stirred and sat up but Draco was still down. Worrying her lip Lilly looked towards the now open door and than back to her unconscious friend, noticing this Sue smiled and planted herself next to the blonde boy.

"I'm too beat up to be any use, come on fearless leader you dragged us down here go complete the dungeon, defeat the monster, get the treasure, so on and so forth, we'll be ok." Giving the Chinese girl a hug and Draco one last lingering look she led her three friends into the next room where she promptly fell to her knees and threw up, looking up she had to avert her gaze from the two eviscerated trolls laying prone in the small glade in the caverns center.

Their blood saturated everything pooling clear to the edges of the walls, covering their mouths the quartet made their way along the edges of the room gingerly avoiding the coagulating streams of bodily fluids. Entering the next room the group gasped for breath as the door slammed behind them, her friends looked at the room in confusion but Lilly felt her heart stop recognizing exactly what it was.

"Oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit," she'd probably have continued like this if Sally hadn't shaken her roughly,

"Lilly what is it!" Staring at her blonde friend in horror she whimpered a bit before responding,

"This room was designed by Aunt Cissy...those are demon summoning glyphs on the floor..." Hermione groaned at this,

"So...run?" Lilly nodded as the runes began to glow,

"RUN NOW!" And so they did, they'd nearly made it to the other side of the room before several Hellhounds like the now deceased Fluffy poured out of the Damnation Gates followed by dozens of imps. As her friends tried to force the enormous door open Lilly centered herself, igniting her icy furnace she thought out to Tom,

_"Suggestions my friend?"_ Trying to remain calm he eventually said,

_"Remember how you wanted to try out that spell you and your Aunt Bella came up with? I think now is the perfect situation to field it,"_ nodding inwardly she turned to Hermione, meeting her best friends eyes she smiled sadly. "Hermione when I cast this I need you to throw that shield Uncle Moony showed you over us, or we're going to die," Hermione's eyes widened in shock but she didn't give the girl time to respond.

Stepping forward she watched the encroaching demonic horde with trepidation, releasing her breath she pointed her mother's wand at the center of the room and made a wide circle, as she smoothly made a five pointed star in its boundaries she intoned, "CZAR BOMBARDA MAXIMUS!"

As the explosion curse left her wand she had already spun around and dove behind Hermione who yelled out,

"AEGIS PROTEGO MAXIMUS!" As the golden shell covered the quartet they were all nearly deafened by the massive explosion that consumed the entire room, with her connection to the schools wards Lilly knew it actually had shaken the foundations a bit. Hermione held back the inferno but her bookworm friend looked like she was about to keel over, there was a laugh behind her as the massive door rocked open.

"HA! Sally grab Lils I got 'Mione," Neville stated, Sally wrapped both arms around Lilly and practically tackled her into the next chamber as Neville scoop up Hermione and charged behind them. Just as the shield failed the doors slammed behind them but not before a few licks of flame curled through the cracks, the four of them leaned against each other breathing heavily before Neville began laughing. Soon the entire group had fallen into a hysterical fit of the giggles and it took a few minutes for them to get over it. Eventually Lilly wiped the soot from her face and addressed her friends,

"And here I thought the end of year exams were supposed to be boring!" Still snickering and high on adrenaline the quartet reached Professor Snape's challenge, and of course it had to be a logic puzzle. "You two figure it out Neville and I are going to sit here and look pretty," she announced to Sally and Hermione as she hooked an arm around her godbrothers shoulders and fell to the ground with him.

"You know, all told, I don't think I'd trade this adventure for anything," he quipped after a few minutes, turning to view the two girls mulling over the table of potions and then back to the slightly cracked and smoldering doors they'd come through she couldn't help but snicker a bit.

"Yeah, maybe next year we can one up this," Neville eyed her a moment then threw an arm around her pulling her close,

"Only you sis..." Eventually Hermione made that adorable squealing noise that indicated she figured something out, grasping the vial she and Sally approached them looking a bit apprehensive.

"This is it but...there's only enough for one," Nodding Lilly shrugged off Neville's arm and stood taking the vial,

"I guess that's my queue," Neville stood and made to grab for the vial before she jerked it back, the boys kind eyes hardened as he crossed his arms,

"We didn't keep you safe through all this to just have you rush off on your own Lils, we care about you blast it," choking up a bit she had to focus her core and kick her occulamancy into overdrive to not feel overwhelmed by that sentiment.

"I know that Nev, and thank you you have no idea how much that means to me, but...this was my idea, when I suggested it I never thought we'd be racing against a psychopath burning his way through ahead of us...just..." She gave him a watery smile that seemed to take the edge out of all three of her friends, "I've got to do this, if...if who I think is in there is in there well...it _has _to be me..."

She 'eeped' a bit as she was pulled into a group hug, Hermione whispered, "Come back," in her ear while Neville and Sally just cried a bit, sighing she broke the hold and turned to her friends, "Take the potion that will lead you back to the beginning, get help and for the love of Morgana don't go through that demon room again." Inhaling slowly she downed the potion and ran through the black flames, it was an incredibly odd experience, they burned yet froze and than...tickled, as she got to the other side she fell to her knees feeling incredibly weak and short of breath.

"Takes it out of you doesn't it young Miss Potter? I admit the demons were not expected, one hellhound that's fine, thirty? Not so much," Looking up she saw Professor Quirrell standing before a large mirror in the center of the chamber. The man continued unabated, "I've been here about twenty minutes already, you've certainly made good time considering your age handicap, unfortunately I'm having difficulties figuring out this last puzzle." Pushing herself to her feet she approached the professor warily, she'd never seen him without the turban before, he had shoulder length brown hair and honestly it looked quite good on him.

"Yes...I really didn't anticipate the later challenges considering how lackluster the first few were," he nodded stroking his chin still staring at the mirror,

"Hmm indeed, although Narcissa's was your fault, that was an addition after you rid the school of Binns, not that I blame you young lady you take your schooling very seriously something I find myself quite approving of," still feeling short of breath from her magical expenditure and her sprint through the flames Lilly took a knee before the dais leading up to the mirror and sucked in as much fresh air as she could before responding.

"Professor, if you don't mind me asking how are you completely useless one moment and incredibly insightful and downright knowledgeable the next?" Pausing the man slowly turned from the mirror and gave her a knowing smile,

"Ah yes, you would notice, it is quite...hilarious how little common sense the average magical has, you see I possessed the good Professor at the beginning of the year but after you exorcised Binns I realized you'd probably do the same to someone as useless as Quirrell." She smirked up at him and nodded slowly before he continued, "So up until our encounter in the forest I took over, the past two weeks I had to relinquish control to keep this body together." Lilly nodded at this before retaking her feet,

"So either you get what you came here for or he's dead regardless now that you're not playing spectral duct tape correct?" He smirked and nodded turning back to the mirror, "Who are you?" He didn't bother turning back around for that as he replied,

"Oh I'm quite sure you figured it out already, you and your little...clique are far more alert than the rest of this school, but to wave away any doubt I am Lord Voldemort, please don't judge on this shells lack of fashion sense I really do have better taste than this." Tom cut in with,

_"I really do, Italian suits and French silk undergarments go together splendidly,"_ grimacing she groused,

"_Thanks for the imagery Tom, now please I'm working?"_ Conceding the point he went silent as Lilly outwardly nodded,

"I thought as much, so I'm guessing it's the Philosophers Stone you're after yes?" Quirrell...Voldemort...Quirrelemort nodded slowly before replying,

"Yes I'm not quite sure what the trick is, the mirror is showing me holding the stone yet nothing is happening, a bit vexing I must admit," Lilly nodded as she walked up beside him causing one of his brows to raise as she asked,

"So out of curiosity if you tried to kill me in the forest why aren't you now?" Turning to face her he shrugged,

"I'd planned on killing you earlier but our encounter on Samhain stilled my hand, I find you to be...far more interesting than what I was led to believe, as for the forest well, I was high as a goblin on spice after drinking the unicorn blood, I literally had no idea who I had attacked before we were airborne, I do apologize for that." Lilly shrugged,

"Meh, I survived," she than turned to face the mirror and gasped, staring back at her was her adult self that Tom had shown her years ago, surrounded by her friends and family including her parents. She recognized Tom at her right and Hermione at her left, and before her there was countless thousands bowing to her, elves, centaurs, witches, wizards, giants, merfolk, they all bowed down to her. Quirrelemort noticed her wide eyed gaze and leaned in to her ear whispering,

"What do you see little one?" She couldn't help the grin curling up her face,

"I hope the future, the world bowing to its Queen..." Turning fully to the girl with an appraising look on his face he didn't notice the ruffle of her robes pocket as her brow furrowed in confusion. It was at that moment that the far wall exploded in splinters and her dad rushed in through the dust and smoke followed by professors Pretty Kitty and Sensei Funsize all with wands drawn, the concussive blast had sent her flying backwards and she'd rather painfully rolled down the dais. Quirrelemort laughed lightly at the entrance,

"Well, you have learned some dramatics Severus I'll give you that, and look a half creature and a blood traitor, this should be, amusing," with that he began throwing curses at the three new arrivals, Lilly pulled herself up into a sitting position and wormed her back against the wall. The world kept focusing in and out and she was feeling sick to her stomach,

_"Concussion love, just take deep clear breaths, keep your eyes closed or you'll only make matters worse,"_ taking his word for it she was sure she was missing an epic showdown but she much preferred not throwing up again today. She was startled as she was pulled into a crushing hug, snapping her eyes open Hermione was crouched before her crying openly,

"Thought I told you to take the potion with the others," she sobbed and sniffled a moment before smiling widely,

"I know, I just didn't listen," snorting she returned the hug, digging into her pocket she fished an item out and placed it into Hermione's grasp gently wrapping her friends fingers around it, the brown eyed genius looked at her in confusion but Lilly's only response was to wink in return. There was a large explosion on the other side of the room and Quirrelemort's body went flying into the weird future vision mirror, sending broken shards of glass and an spurts of blood down the dais, pulling Hermione closer Lilly closed her eyes once again fighting the waves of nausea courtesy of her concussion. A silence pervaded the room but it was soon interrupted as the pair were rushed by her frantic dad who gently pushed Hermione aside and scooped Lilly up in his arms, as the concussions effects took its toll she openly groaned out,

"Daddy can we go home now? I'm really tired of Hogwarts..."

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><p><em><strong>One more chapter and we're done with first year, I'm going to have a chapter covering her first summer home but considering I personally normally find these boring in others stories I'll be making it abbreviated except for when she's hanging out with Aunti Bella and Uncle Padfoot because I love them. Anyway, hope you enjoyed, please REVIEW!<strong>_


	14. Chapter 14-Death, Destiny, Decisions

_**SORRY! Been very very busy this week, filed the divorce papers against the adulteress this week and all my free time has been taken up with lawyers and a crash course in legal'eze. Bit short, a bit condensed, but it's better then nothing, expect next chapter to be longer, also dunno if it was due to my emotionally charged week but writing Neville's confession really upset me, lemme know if I was just being stupid all right? Anyway hope you all enjoy and next chapter will involve Sirius and Tonks kidnapping Lilly and dragging her across Europe and the States for rock concerts, the Black sisters teaching her the best methods on disposing of bodies as well as she and Hermione figuring out what the hell they're going to do with their stolen Philosopher's Stone. As always REVIEW!**_

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><p>The entire school was abuzz with the news that Lillith Potter and her friends had chased a dark wizard through the off limits third floor and in the end it resulted in the death of a possessed Professor Quirrell and the hospitalization of several students. For once the Hogwarts rumor mill had gotten most of the story right, the line fed by Hermione indicated that Lilly had put a detection charm on the trapdoor and when she felt it activate she led her friends to the scene of carnage. While most of the school accepted this Slytherin house knew to be wary, Lilly's behavior had been oddly Gryffindor'ish in this instance and if they'd all learned one thing in the past nine months it was that Lillith did not act rashly thus creating even more questions.<p>

Unfortunately those who had answers were keeping quiet or were still unconscious while being watched over by a rather caustic Lady Malfoy and Professor Snape, so Alexander Nott found himself contemplating the mess in silence with very little information to work with. The brunette young man rubbed his eyes in annoyance as he tried to process the enigma that was Lillith Potter, supposedly the Lady of Slytherin if the sorting hat was to be believed. That was the thing of it though, she never directly claimed the title, she simply showed off her power and cowed those that crossed her. She was subtle, brutally pragmatic, and viciously opportunistic; truth be told if she were a few years older he'd probably pursue her himself she was the perfect woman as for as he was concerned.

He really needed to talk to Theodore, the poor boy was starting to follow their idiot fathers directives and to put it simply it would lead their family to ruin, Lillith Potter was the next Dark Lady after all. Sure Alexander may be stretching things a bit but she showed all the signs of greatness with none of Voldemort's idiocy, she wanted to preserve their customs and religion while embracing the muggle science of genetics, a subject he himself found interesting. The Pure-Blood Prerogative was ignorance at best and even the likes of Lucius Malfoy had begun to accept that, preserve the culture spread the bloodlines, unfortunately for every Pure-Blood who was swayed there were six who were not.

It was in these deep thoughts buried in the darkest corners of the Slytherin common room that Alexander overheard several girls talking, if he were to guess they were fifth through seventh years.

"-ithout the crazy little bitch there to protect her the mudblood is free game, frankly it's an embarrassment to Salazar that she's gotten away with wearing our standard most of the year. It's our chance to show her that her place is in the dirt, just like all the other mudbloods." Alexander felt an eyebrow raise at this, there really could only be one girl they were speaking of, and put simply this could be very entertaining for the conflicted young man. His Dark Arts lessons with Lillith had quickly evolved into tutoring the young lady and her three closest friends, and if there was one word he could use to describe Hermione Granger it was 'Competent'.

So as he listened in on these foolish children plotting on jumping the young girl while her "protector" was still unconscious Alexander silently lamented that the Weasley twins weren't there, he'd dearly love to place a bet at the moment. As the girls decided on a course of action Alexander shook his head in disbelief as he waved over Jennifer Pucey, as his long term girlfriend approached he whispered into her ear,

"Wanna see something funny?" The blond smirked and nodded, the two seventh years tapped each other on the head with their wands casting disillusion charms, shaking off the feeling that an egg had just been cracked over his head Alexander led Jen towards the still gossiping girls. It wasn't long until they found their target, the bushy haired brunette was busily whispering to the Zabini boy when the large group of girls blocked their way, Hermione looked up and arced a brow in question.

"Yes?" One of the older girls stepped forward and sneered down at the first year,

"Well well well if it isn't the little mudblood whore without her protector, what are you doing with Zabini, signing up as one of his future conquests?" Zabini for his part actually skipped "indignant" and jumped directly to "bloody enraged", Hermione for her part raised a hand and placed it on her friends shoulder restraining him. Turning to the group of girls she stepped forward twisting her body so she was presenting her left side limiting her profile, he watched as she twitched her concealed right hand as her wand fell into it.

Smirking he grabbed Jen and dragged her back to the wall with him as Hermione responded,

"If you have something to say, say it, I'm as Slytherin as a witch could be so please, enlighten me as to why you think I'm some simpleton wishing to become a concubine." The other girls exchanged looks, they were supposed to be intimidating the mudblood not antagonizing her, one of the group stepped forward with a wand drawn and that basically ended the fight before it began.

Alexander had been`witness to several dueling exhibitions over the years, and he distinctly remembered his father pointing out Andromeda Tonks and the stance she took,

_"See that son? That's the Black Dance, it's one of the most fluid, chaotic, and deadly fighting styles in our world, it takes years of study to perfect and even then you have to be graced with the presence of a Black to learn it. Andromeda is the scariest of the three sisters, she's only been confronted by our Lord's forces once, after their rather horrific deaths he declared her off limits, remember that my boy, never cross a Black."_

Alexander winced as Hermione began to dance about, in less then thirty seconds a dozen girls were on the ground screaming in agony, Hermione shoved her wand up her sleeve turning back to a sick looking Zabini before she asked,

"Would you like to go see Lilly with me?" Shaking himself Zabini nodded quickly and the two first years walked away from the twitching and bleeding group left in their wake, Jennifer ended their disillusionments and turned to Alexander with a look of horror on her face. Shaking his head slowly the young man kept his silence, he would never say anything to cross his future Dark Lady's second in command.

Lilly groggily came to staring at a bleach white ceiling, glancing to her left and right she saw stainless steel catches to prevent her rolling off to the floor, coughing she was soon approached by her Aunt Cissy and...

"Daddy...I hurt...alot..." Severus Snape leaned over the prone girl cupping her cheek in his hand, brushing his thumb lightly across her face he leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"Child, what possessed you to do something so...foolish?" Coughing again she grasped his hand while smiling gently,

"Just because that stupid vault was set up as a challenge didn't mean it wasn't protecting something special, and I will not lie to you daddy, if I had known what it would have cost me..." she grew silent and stared at the ceiling again, the distinct scent of ozone filled the room as her magic roiled. "If I had known what it would cost those I held dear I would have just blown up the entrance and waited for you all..." Severus released her face and sat beside the bed, stroking the hair along her head the ravenette sighed and leaned into the touch.

"Lilly I'm just happy you're alive, I...I don't know what I'd do without you..." smirking the young girl cracked her eyes open and with humor in her voice replied,

"And it'll be a long...Loooooong time before you have to worry about that daddy, I'm a very stubborn witch...is everyone else ok?" Pausing he was beaten by Narcissa who dropped one of the steel catches and sat on the hospital bed primly,

"Yes dear, and before you say anything Draco explained everything to me, no one blames you.." she paused as fresh tears graced the young Potter heiresses eyes,

"Little Dragon's ok? He...he's not hurt right?" Processing the pet name and the very real concern Narcissa coiled her satisfaction to the back of her mind as she remained blank faced and nodded,

"Draco is fine, in fact the Headmaster-" she could not restrain her eyeroll when it came to Dumbledore, "-Appointed all that followed you house points which I've been informed mean next to nothing to you. Do yourself a favor and don't let the other houses hear about that, you're a bit sadistic like myself and my sisters and your schoolmates consternation will bring you amusement over the years." Smirking Lilly nodded lightly,

"Am I going to be expelled?" Severus shook his head quickly taking his daughters hand,

"Far from it dear, for reasons known only to himself Dumbledore is beyond ecstatic you involved yourself in this misadventure, and please I know you regret it but...but please explain to me what lead you to be so...stupidly reckless and Gryffindor'ish?" The little ravenette stretched out then cuddled up next to her dad before replying,

"Because it's what the fools expected..." with that she drifted back to sleep as Severus and Narcissa exchanged looks, after a few moments the blonde woman buried her bubbling laughter in her shawl. Leave it to Lillith to turn a bad situation to her favor, in the coming years no one would know where she stood and public opinion would be exactly where she wanted it to be. After that Lilly and her friends were released from the hospital wing right before the leaving feast and thus thrown into the maelstrom of gossip that was the Hogwarts student body, after a time Lilly finally secluded herself with her friends plus the Weasely twins, for some odd reason she liked the pair.

"And that's about it, he was after whatever was held in the mirror and it was destroyed when his body was thrown through it..." Fred and George shook their heads in sync before one of them replied,

"Honestly I'm not really shocked," his brother picked up there,

"Quirrell always seemed off,"

"Really while the best defense professor we've had so far,"

"He really didn't seem that wound together if you take our meaning," Lilly suppressed her laughter at the twins antics as well as Quirell's real identity before replying,

"In the end it really doesn't matter, he's dead, we're not, and Slytherin still won the house cup, so net gain as far as I'm concerned," the none Slytherin's in the room gave her reproachful looks as Draco, Hermione, and Blaise snickered. Smirking Lilly shook her head as Hedwig flew into the room landing on her shoulder, casting levitation charms on everyone's trunks she grabbed her own and made her way through the Great Hall, turning to the large group of mostly first years she couldn't help but smirk.

"_Not a bad turn out for nine months of work wouldn't you say Tom?" _The Dark Lord in her head chuckled a bit,

_"A core group of loyal followers who ask no questions spread across all four houses as well as acquiring the Philosopher's Stone and Death's Cloak? Yes I'd say you made out."_ Lilly prided herself on the fact that she didn't stumble at the mention of 'Death's Cloak',

"_Tom...what do you mean about the cloak?"_ He was quiet for a few moments before replying,

_"I didn't want to set your expectations too high but I"m fairly certain the Peverell's were the 'Three Brother's', love the entire idea of an ancestral invisibility cloak is simply balderdash, those cloaks last at best two years of constant use and maintenance, and they don't adapt to the user's whims. And lets be honest here you activated its default setting by accident and what did it look like?" _ Lilly mulled over his words as she pushed open the main gates with her friends trailing behind,

"_It looks like the sterotypical Grim Reaper's cloak,so black it absorbs the light around it..."_ Tom nodded quickly,

"_So yes, I think you're currently wearing Death's own cloak, which Death is beyond me but still, something to consider,"_ sighing a bit she shook her head as she made her way to the carriages that would escort them down to Hogsmeade and the Hogwarts Express. She stumbled a bit as she caught sight of the carriages and the creatures tied to them, they looked like pitch black skeletal horses with leathery bat-like wings folded along their backs, eyes widening she gasped out,

"What...what in the name of Morgana are those!?" Her friends looked at her in confusion, all except Neville who gave her a sad smile,

"They're Thestrals Lils...only those of us that have witnessed Death can see them..." the group eyed the pair of god-siblings as they took in a sight they could not share in.

"...Who was it for you Nev..." Her god brother looked ill a moment before collecting himself,

"My father...I...my parents were targeted by a group of Death Eaters after You-Kn...Voldemort was defeated, mum died first in the hall to my room, she killed Rabastan LeStrange and his wife before she fell...Dad fell back and was bleeding badly when he got to me. He barricaded the door and held them off until the Auror's showed up... My first conscious memory was watching my father bleed to death while he protected me..." Lillith stared at Neville in horror and grabbed the boy in her arms sobbing into his shoulder, he stayed stoic but she felt the tears roll down his cheeks. Collecting her wits she shuddered and whispered into his ear,

"It was mum...she begged Voldemort not to take me, she was badly injured, broken arm, lost her left eye, femoral artery ruptured... he laughed as he cast the killing curse on her...my first memory is a bright green light and my mums dying scream..." Neville pulled her into his arms even more tightly as Lilly let out ten years of anguish, she'd never told anyone, not her dad, not her Aunt Bella, not even Tom that she'd remembered the murder of her mother. Their friends stared at the pair in obvious discomfort, unsure what to do as the pair unexpectidly aired their worst memories, after a minute or two they pulled aprt, before letting her go Neville leaned down and kissed her forehead.

"If you ever need to talk about it Lils...I'm here..." She stood on her tip toes and pecked his cheek,

"Ditto brother, ditto..." As the group finally began moving to their individual carriages one of the Thestrals turned to Lilly and Neville, she stopped abruptly and was nearly knocked over by a startled Hermione, reaching up she pet the creature and it leaned down and licked the tears from her cheek. It was...odd, but for some reason it made her feel better, stroking its mane she lost herself a bit before Hermione coughed,

"Lilly, we need to get moving, and well...we need to talk about a few things," remembering her theft of the Philosopher's Stone Lilly nodded and pulled her hand back and was surprised to feel something tug on her magic, confused she looked down at her hand and saw a long black hair was wrapped around fingers. Feeling the power pulsing through the hair she looked to the thestral who whinnied and stomped his hoof down once, recognizing the gift for what it was she curtsied the dark creature who much to her shock nodded in return. Draco and Blaise looked confused as she wound the hair around her finger, entering the carriage with the other three Slytherins she stretched the hair back out and looked down at it reverently, Blaise caught her attention as the carriage began moving.

"What's with the hair Lilly?" Smirking she met his golden eyes as a Cheshire cat smile spread across her face,

"It seems I'm destined to be tied to Death...it's the core to my wand Blaise...the core to my wand..." Once on the train the trip back to Kings Cross Station was uneventful, the boys played card games while Lilly and Hermione whispered about the stone, while a bit of coup neither witch had any idea how the hell to make the thing work. In the end Lillith resolved to ask Auntie Bella, if anyone knew how to make illegal substances with a stolen Philosopher's Stone and not tell anyone about it it would be Bellatrix Lupin. As the students disembarked from the train Lilly said her goodbyes to her friends, seeing Aunt Andi and Uncle Teddy Lilly broke into a run and jumped into their arms, the next few months were going to be wonderful, she just knew it.

Draco approached his father who had arrived alone, it was to be expected honestly mother was still at Hogwarts grading finals papers, nodding to the tall blonde man Draco greeted him respectfully.

"Father, it is good to see you again, how have you been?" Smiling down at the boy Lucius shrugged off generations of decorum to give the surprised boy a brief hug,

"It's good to see you again son, drawing the ladies in like your old man I see?" Blushing Draco quickly glanced back to the group consisting of Lillith, Hermione, Sue Li, Hanna, Susan Bones, and Sally-Anne before responding with a light cough,

"I have no idea what you are speaking of father," rolling his gray eyes Lucius rested his hand on the boys shoulder guiding him towards the stations apparation point,

"Of course son, of course," after arriving at the gates of Malfoy Manor father and son walked to the enormous building in silence, Draco made for his room and paused for a moment, turning around he approached his father and handed him a folded piece of parchment. Bowing lightly he begged his leave and called Dobby to help him take his trunk upstairs, opening the parchment Lucius good mood evaporated as he read the careful calligraphy of Lillith Potter

_Tom Marvolo Riddle_

_I AM LORD VOLDEMORT_

Below that Draco's careful scrawl was scratched in,

_Riddle name is muggle, who did you nearly lose everything for?_

Pausing he stared up the stairs at the son who suddenly became infinitely more interesting than he had been a moment before,

"Who indeed my dear son...who indeed..."


	15. Chapter 15- Eye of the Tiger

**Author Edit- GODS BE DAMNED, STOP commenting on every one of my stories that 'artefakts' is misspelled, its the Old English spelling and I'm trying to keep the flavor, STOP IT.**

**The scenes with Lucius and Narcissa were actually quite fun to write, and the point is mostly to emphasize that Lillith is not _nearly_ as good at hiding her alignment as she thinks she is, after all she's only eleven and even with Tom's help the Malfoy's are old hands at dealing with Dark Lords. Also to answer a reviewers questions, she'll be getting a snake near middle of the coming school year and no there are no pairings as of yet, sure she'll date eventually but I find the entire idea of "soul mates" to be rather asinine so nothing is set in stone but I like hearing your input. **

**Oh yes, most of this chapter (or all of summer holidays really) won't have Professor Snape in it since he gets so much screen time in the school year, don't worry not phasing him out, also thinking there will be 2-3 holiday chapters. I really am kind of stalling because I've come to really love this character and don't want her to deal with what I have outlined for year two but its...ugh...necessary, anyway I hope you all enjoy and please REVIEW!**

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><p>Lucius Malfoy found himself in a bit of quandary, he and Thadius Nott had spent nearly six months developing and tweaking a plan that was intended to destabilize Dumbledore's position in their society while at the same time discrediting the rather annoying Weasley patriarch. Yes he'd helped the man acquire his position in the ministry but his blind loyalty to Dumbledore made him a liability and the artefakt that the Dark Lord entrusted Lucius with would have worked nicely in putting both men in check. Unfortunately two pieces of information had come to his attention that greatly interfered with these plans, namely his lovely wife informing him that Arthur was actually in Black's pocket, and that the Dark Lord was not in fact a Pure-Blood.<p>

Sipping the fine aged whiskey from its crystal decanter Lucius glowered at the open expanse of his ancestral homes back gardens, closing his eyes a moment he felt the fresh summer breeze blow in through the open windows carrying the laughter of children with it. Rubbing the bridge of his nose he took another sip of the potent liquor and observed his son laughing with the Potter girl and the pair of mud...muggle-born witches as they flitted about the Quiditch pitch at rather alarming speeds. That had taken some getting use to, Narcissa had taken to hitting him with a stinging hex every time the 'M Word' was said in her presence, being a survivor and rather disliking sleeping on his studies couch it did not take him long to omit the phrase from his common vernacular.

Shaking his head realizing he was letting the alcohol cloud his mind he tossed the rest of the drink out the window and placed the glass back on his desk, pacing about the room he picked up the enchanted diary and began flipping through its empty pages in contemplation. Several things were stilling his hand on this, first off his own son was currently attending Hogwarts ergo this plan would put Draco in the path of danger, the fact that Thadius cared nothing for the safety of his own children mildly concerned him. Another issue was he actually rather _liked_ Lillith Potter and her annoying lowborn friends, Hermione was trying her best conform to their culture and carve a place in their world and Sally-Anne was much the same if not more caustically sarcastic about it.

The largest issue though was the scrap of parchment currently taunting him from its position on his desk, the Dark Lord's true identity displayed in immaculate calligraphy for all the world to see. It had taken a matter of days to research one Tom Riddle to find that Draco and Lillith were more then likely correct on the identity of the fallen but not vanquished Dark Lord; gritting his teeth Lucius slapped the decanter off his desk and felt a small amount of satisfaction as it shattered against the wall, seething he began pacing again.

"Bastard played our entire Society as fools and was more than likely laughing as we bled ourselves dry dancing to his tune all the while draining our family fortunes, snake faced muggle blooded bastard..." Staring down at the diary in his hands he came to a decision, if Voldemort...no...Riddle managed to return and wanted to re-enter the game than the Malfoy's would simply refuse to play from here on out. Opening the blood rune locked safe hidden in the wall mosaic Lucius unceremoniously tossed the book into the armored enclosure and slammed it shut,

"If Thadius wants to remain a servant on his knees he can do the dirty work himself," nodding as his resolve solidified Lord Malfoy called Dobby to clean up the broken glass and made for the manors back doors; perhaps he could join the children in a pick up game, it was about damn time he got to know his son and his friends better.

Lilly was grinning widely as she swerved about above the Malfoy Quiditch pitch, after last years lackluster Gryffindor performance she had decided to take it upon herself to train Sally-Anne to become a seeker like herself. Draco joined in as he intended to go for the open chaser position while Hermione followed along simply to help her friends train, they all found it odd Lilly wanted to coach her competition but it made sense to her so that was all that mattered. All was fair in love and war, sports though were meant for fun and to test ones self, what was the point in stomping a weaker opponent into submission? Really how was one supposed to improve herself if she only fought against her inferiors at all times?

Thankfully her uncles and dad all understood her viewpoint and had pitched in to buy both her and her muggle-born friend Nimbus 2001's for this years tryouts, Draco had already received one from his father and Hermione was just puttering around on a modest Clean Sweep since she lacked any real interest in the game. Lilly was twirling around her bespectacled blonde friend as they searched for the golden snitch when they heard a sharp whistle from below, spotting both Lord and Lady Malfoy holding brooms the quartet landed before the pair.

"Hello son, ladies, we were wondering if you all wouldn't mind a pair of old hands joining in," the Malfoy patriarch drawled, grinning widely Lilly chirped out,

"I get aunt Cissy, losers pay for the ice cream!" Exchanging pleased smirks the older blondes nodded in agreement, two hours later the exhausted group of six sat around the patio table snacking on frozen treats supplied by Dobby. Lucius was loath to admit it but this was honestly one of the most amusing days of his adult life, as he contemplated what event in recent years had caused him to lighten up he was drawn to the gentle touch of a small hand on his arm. Turning to Lillith he raised a brow which earned him a giggle,

"You know I honestly think that's a Slytherin thing, I and all my friends can pull it off...anyway I never got to write the letter you suggested since I found the last component on our way home from school but...I have all the parts to my wand. I was wondering...does your offer still stand?" Smiling inwardly but remaining stone faced he nodded slowly,

"He mostly spends time in Bulgaria, Romania, and Germany, Lord Black tells me you'll be taking holiday on the continent most of next month so if you wish I can let Mykew Gregorovitch know of your interest. You're quite fortunate honestly I hear he intends to retire very soon, if I may ask what are your wand bases?" The small ravenette sucked down another spoonful of ice cream before replying, idly he mused _'What is with that girl and chocolate?' _

"Well, my handle is a Fey crystal..." that got both elder Malfoy's attention, the girls and Draco hadn't reacted likely already in the know, "The wood is from a willow tree, like my mum's..." Lucius nodded at that, it made sense honestly, the girl was if nothing else on the path to greatness. "And my core is...a thestral hair," Lucius felt his eyes _want_ to bulge at that but years of practice kept his reaction to himself.

"Well," he began, "It seems you've managed to build yourself a very valuable partner little one, remember to treat it with respect when it is completed," she smiled and nodded as she dug back into her ice cream. Hours later after the Tonks family arrived to pick up the girls Lucius lay in bed with Narcissa wrapped around him, say what you will about a woman's clingyness nothing could ever eclipse having the one you love wrapped around you. After a few moments she spoke up,

"Dear, what is keeping you from sleep?" He remained silent as he ran his fingers down her bare back, after a time he sighed out,

"It's Lillith, I..." he paused shaking his head slowly, "I've only really known her for a short while but I fear for her, the talents she exhibits, her ability to draw anyone worth while in as friends, and even her wand being made of uncommon materials...she's special...and I'm worried..." Narcissa for her part remained silent for a time before replying,

"You want her for Draco, do you not," it wasn't a question and he didn't bother denying it as he quickly agreed,

"Yes, she has the potential to be the next Dark Lady ...yet it doesn't frighten me nearly as much as it should, in fact I'm almost excited to see what the future holds for her and our son. The way she talks, plots, and weaves her little webs reminds me of the stories of the original Dark Lords who led our people to greatness, not the smooth talkers who ended up being babbling psychopaths who wish to rule the world just to indulge their sadism; I want to see what happens, I want to see the man Draco could grow into walking beside someone like her. Does that make me a bad father?" Narcissa shifted as she drew him into a kiss before resting her head against his chest,

"No love, if what I've seen holds a dram of truth Draco is safest next to Lillith Potter unless of course he throws himself into harms way to protect her...did I tell you she calls him her 'Little Dragon'?" The teasing tone caused him to arc a brow,

"He's a Malfoy their's nothing little about-" he was cut off by the playful smack from his wife earning her a chuckle, "I won't push it one way or another, she considers him a friend and that is fine with me, if it grows into more I will be most pleased. Last thing I'm going to do is pull a Parkinson and try to push a marriage contract," he watched Narcissa's nose scrunch up at that in the dull light,

"Good, now get some sleep dear, Sirius is taking the girls on holiday soon and you know that means you're going to be taking up the dogs work load until he gets back," sighing he pulled her closer and settled in for the night. He didn't know what the future held, but as long as he could avoid foolish old meddlers and pretender Dark Lords he felt it would all be quite interesting to watch unfold.

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><p>Lilly walked into the kitchen of the Tonks home rubbing sleep sand from her eyes operating mostly on autopilot, Lillith Potter was many things but a morning person she was not, sure she got <em>up<em> early but that didn't mean she liked it. Absently putting a kettle on to boil she began preparing breakfast for her family, she got to spend so little time with Aunt Andi and Uncle Teddy now that she was in school that she felt it was necessary to show some extra effort for them. As she was frying a few rashers of bacon and some bangers Hedwig flew into the room and landed on her shoulder, the beautiful snowy owl was eyeing the frying meat with a predators gleam. Snorting at her familiars antics she jabbed a fork into one of the cooked links cooling on a plate and lifted it up to the pleased owl, Hedwig leaned over and nipped Lilly's ear affectionately before snatching the dripping morsel and flying off with it.

"You really spoil that bird you know that?" Turning around Lilly met the groggy visage of the woman who she viewed as her older sister as she stumbled into the room in a pair of boxers and a tank top, Dora sat at the table and rested her head in her crossed arms while her spiked hair fluctuated between shades of red and blue.

"Morning sis, and yes yes I do, so who are you training with today?" The auror cadet groaned a bit her voice muffled as she refused to lift her head,

"Freaking Madeye...again, apparently I gained his interest so hoo-bloody-ray for me," Lilly snorted at this as she began preparing the eggs,

"How do you want your eggs Dora?" She shook her hand with a limp wrist,

"Eh, in a basket if you don't mind," nodding Lilly grabbed a slice of bread and tore out its center, slathering it with butter she tossed it into the pan and cracked an egg into it,

"So you finish your training next week right? That's when you and Padfoot are taking me on this world tour of yours?" As the egg began to cook she took the kettle and poured some tea for her cousin placing the steaming mug before the prone woman, Dora's hair shifted to bright pink as she smelled a nearby source of caffeine and sat up to properly grasp the offered bounty.

"Thanks love, and yes, thank Morgana, a solid year of this crap is more than enough thank you very much, Sirius and I already decided we'll hit the continent before the colonies so we can get your wand started, you excited?" Grinning Lilly nodded quickly as she tossed a rasher of bacon and the egg onto a plate handing it over to the pleased looking woman,

"Quite, after all the crap I've gone through this year I'm looking forward to traveling around a bit, and well, my own custom wand is just kind of brilliant don't you think?" Nodding as she tore into her meal Dora didn't get to respond before Andromeda and Theodore entered the room,

"Ello Auntie, Uncle, how would you two like your eggs?" The couple had long learned to not fight Lillith on the breakfast thing so they made their requests and sat with their daughter. Handing the meals over Lilly sat down with her own plate and began to dig in, Andi cleared her throat a bit before speaking,

"So Lilly have you put any thought into your electives for your third year? I know you have plenty of time but it doesn't hurt to plan ahead," chewing her mouthful of food the girl swallowed it quickly before responding.

"Mmhmm, Hermione and I both decided to take all the electives, I'm probably going to put all my effort into Arithmancy and Ancient Runes though considering Muggle Studies is pointless for me and Dora tells me Divination is basically a creative writing class that lets you discuss interesting ways for you to die. Not sure if I'll like Care of Magical Creatures but it could be fun, honestly though not putting too much thought into next year, I'm just hoping this year is less...eventful than last." Andi nodded at that as she sipped her tea,

"Not shocked honestly, you both are rather classic overachievers and I wouldn't worry too much about trouble this year, after that whole Quirrell thing along with the troll the Board of Governors will be watching the school closely, anyway I noticed you're quite close to that Malfoy boy, something I should know?" Choking on a piece of toast Lilly began coughing as Dora leaned over and smacked her on the back, as her throat cleared she glared up to her smirking Aunt,

"There's nothing going on, I'm eleven for crying out loud, ugh I swear if it isn't you it's aunt Cissy and..." growing quiet the ravenette rolled her eyes and leaned back into her chair while crossing her arms pouting. "And you're taking the mickey out of me aren't you?" Nodding while twitching her teacup towards her niece Andi smirked lightly,

"But of course, now go on finish your breakfast and go get dressed I'll clean up the dishes, do recall that the rest of this week you're going to be staying at Lupin manor." Eyes widening the petite girl shoveled the rest of her meal into her mouth and sprinted out of the room after giving its three occupants each a kiss on the cheek, shaking his head ruefully Ted looked to his wife,

"Doesn't it concern you how much she looks up to Bella?" Nodding slowly the brunette woman than shrugged,

"Yes, but you have to admit their inventions are...memorable," snorting he didn't bother mentioning that 'memorable' wasn't always a good thing with those two, Dora wasn't so silent though,

"Yes memorable since it isn't everyday that a mad genius teaches a little girl how to perform necromancy, did you hear Aunt Bella has been trying to get ahold of elephant cadavers to see if she can make and I quote 'Bloody huge zombie tanks'? How Uncle Remus puts up with some of that woman's experiments..." Ted shrugged as he finished his tea and stood up to get to work,

"Love, a twisted sense of humor, and far kinkier sex than I'd like to be privy to if I had to guess, I'll see you lovely ladies this evening." Both women had a pinched look about them as they tried not to think of the images popping into their heads as Ted excused himself, after a few minutes Dora left as well leaving Andi to herself.. After cleaning up she gracefully moved through the large home to Lillith's room, cracking open the door she smirked as she caught the girl practicing with her knife and wand out, the small ravenette was a blur of motion and when Andi caught the song the girl was humming to herself she had to shove her fist into her mouth to stop laughing. Quickly walking away she finally let out her pent up mirth,

"Well at least I can tell Ted that his Rocky marathon with her left an impression," still chuckling the eldest Black sister sat in the parlor and waited on her niece, sure she might be a bit late for work but she'd give the girl time to be a child, she deserved it.

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><p><strong>Isn't Lilly just an adorable fountain of terrifying darkness? Anyway this chapter should have been longer but I'm very tired from work and figured I'd just write the second half tomorrow and give you all something to read over the weekend with this. Next up, Aunti Bella, Nirvana concert with Padfoot and Tonks and getting her wand created, Review!<strong>


	16. Chapter 16-Wands, Dragons, and Badboys

**I'm sick but have to work regardless so nothing fancy about this chapter, I'm going to try and get some sleep, try being the operative word here. Oh and to that reviewer who brought up Tom's presence in Lilly's head setting off Dark Marks, don't you think Snape would have noticed his daughter causing the Dark Lord's mark to ignite some time in the past six years? Thinking waaaaay too much into it bro, anyway enjoy and review you guys are great, seriously over 400 favorites and damn near 700 follows for a story that's been out for two months and some change? Awesome, you guys are awesome.**

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><p>The following week found Lilly sitting on her bed in Lupin Manor tuning the guitar Aunt Andi and Dora had bought for her as an early birthday present, the Les Paul was similar to her mum's but instead of the sunburst pattern it was a metallic emerald with a raven carrying a lily flower in its claws painted on. It was quite possibly the coolest thing the preteen had ever owned, as she and Sally-Anne practiced she wondered if she could draw any of her other friends in to play, that'd be a lark a bunch of school girls forming a rock band. She'd been more than a little surprised to find out her blonde friend knew how to play the bass to begin with but was less so when she revealed that her dad played in a Beatles tribute band.<p>

So the two friends had made it a point to polish their skills before they embarked on a month long jaunt through Europe and North America hitting as many muggle and magical rock concerts as possible. Sirius being the Black of Blacks basically ran through kilometers of red tape middle fingers extended to get their special visas, and in turn Sally being Sally thought it was hilarious how he rode roughshod over the government. They both lamented none of their other friends could come but they were largely Pure-Bloods who didn't want to hang out all summer with muggles and Hermione's parents had dragged her off to France; luckily Dora had passed Auror training with flying colors so they wouldn't be stuck with just the semi-sane Lord Black the entire trip.

"So Lils what are you looking forward to most this summer?" Turning to Sally who at the moment looked mildly diabolical due to the glare coming off her glasses Lilly just shrugged before adjusting her strings again, there _had_ to be a way to magically fix that.

"Not sure, never been to a concert before so for all I know I'll hate it, but I _am_ looking forward to getting my wand crafted, Uncle Luc said that it would take roughly a month of continuous work to be finished so I'm hoping I'll get it before school starts." Sally nodded as she began playing the bass line for 'Paint it Black', smirking Lilly followed her lead until they heard a knock on the door, turning off the amp Lilly placed her guitar on the bed and yelled, "Come in!" After a pause Auntie Bella entered the room with a massive grin on her face,

"Ello my little serpent and her lovely cub friend, I just had a marvelous idea!" Smirking Sally jumped up nearly tossing her bass aside, she'd quickly fallen in love with Bellatrix calling her 'A mentally unstable Mortica Addams with ADHD' and fondly awaited the unstable witches latest scheme,

"And what would that be Mrs. Lupin?" She playfully smacked the top of Sally's head before continuing,

"It's Auntie Bella to the likes of you, _and_ I just had a thought! What happens to a werewolf killed on the full moon?" The girls exchanged looks than shrugged, grinning wider Bellatrix continued, "Why the corpse remains in its werewolf form of course! So I was thinking if we got ourselves a bunch of dead werewolves we could turn them into inferni and have a legion of were-zombies at our beck and call!" Eyes widening Lilly stared at her aunt in awe,

"That would be bloody wicked, but where would we get the corpses?" Sally tapped her chin a moment than chirped out,

"Well, the United Kingdom really looks down on the whole execution thing so the muggle prisons are full of convicts that deserve to die, we could apparate in and kidnap a bunch of them, turn them, kill them, and then throw some food preserving charms on them before turning them into zombies." Both ravenettes stared at the girl openly gaping for a moment before Bella broke out cackling and picked her up swinging her around a few times before placing the dizzy blonde back on the ground,

"Lilly have I ever told you how much I love the people you draw to your little circle? Hehe...now how to turn them?" Lilly smiled winningly at that,

"Uncle Moony of course, but the trick is getting him to agree to it," Bella hmm'd a second before replying,

"Quite true quite true, hmmm, could probably talk him into it as a science experiment with a few sex coupons, don't really mind the red hood and cloak honestly, all right girls lets go for it!" Remus Lupin was reading the morning paper (the muggle not magical, he liked his facts to be factual thank you very much) when he heard three distinct female voices yell,

"FOR SCIENCE!" down the hall, shivering he came to the sudden realization that he needed to be absolutely anywhere else within the next ten seconds or he would dearly regret it. So it was with that he apparated directly into the parlor of Sirius' flat who at the moment was enjoying a morning coffee while watching telly. The goatee'd man quirked a brow at his best friends sudden arrival but said nothing as he poured him a cup and tossed in a couple cubes of sugar before passing it over. Remus nodded and took a sip before saying anything,

"Women are insane, you're aware of this right?" Laughing Sirius threw his legs onto the table while downing his cup in one gulp, tossing it to the floor not really caring if it broke or not he rolled his eyes before responding,

"You have noticed I've remained resolutely single mate? I'm well aware of the fickle nature of the fairer sex, a hounds life is the life for me." Remus snorted at that as he blew on his steaming drink,

"And here I thought it was because most woman couldn't stand the smell of wet dog, or the fact that you're constantly trying to lick your own-"

"OY! That was once and I was sixteen!" Laughing Remus quirked a brow up at that,

"Really, because last week I swore I caught you-" he was interrupted by the flying pillow hitting his face, now laughing with Sirius he just shook his head, moments like this made him really miss James and Lily and their witty commentary. But...well, they had each other and they all watched over Lillith, and that was enough he for now, finishing his coffee he motioned towards the stack of concert listings on the table. Taking notice Sirius grinned,

"There's this new band called the Weird Sisters, they're on a world tour piggy-backing on a bunch of muggle concerts across the continent, I figured we'd follow them a couple weeks since the first concert is in Bulgaria we can get Lilly's wand parts to that guy whose name I can't pronounce. After that we'll hit Canada and the States." Nodding Remus picked up the pamphlets when the fireplace flared and his wife rolled out,

"Remus love, how do you feel about gnawing on a bunch of convicts in the name of science?" Sirius expression remained neutral but his eyes screamed with mirth as he calmly asked,

"Yeah mate, how do you feel about that?" Remus buried his face in his hands and groaned loudly, bloody Blacks...

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><p>The day before heading to Bulgaria Lillith approached Aunt Bella who was in the midst of yelling at a large taloned arm lashing about as it floated in the air above an intricate glowing array, the small girl stood there nervously as her mentor cursed in Sumerian,<p>

_"Listen you little bastard you're going to behave or we're going to find out if their's a god, which we're both aware there is because she's standing right here, and she's fresh out of mercy, now BEHAVE before I just incinerate you and start over with a less pissy limb!"_ For it's part the flailing arm went limp looking oddly dejected, nodding at her acknowledged superiority Bella began jabbing it with a few syringes before she turned and noticed her niece. "Lillath honestly what's with the long face?" Toeing the floor a bit she coughed and asked,

"If hypothetically I ended up with an incredibly illegal and stolen alchemical catalyst and offered it to you to find out how to manufacture the elixir of life would you keep it quiet since it gives you the ability to finally beat god at his own game?" Bella froze and turned to the petite child she looked at as her own adoptive daughter appraising her a moment before grinning and quickly turning back to her work,

"No idea what you're talking about love, I have no control over where my machinations take me when I find things on my desk, you know how barmy I can be..." grinning widely Lilly placed a red crystal on her Aunt's desk before heading for the door.

"Love you Auntie Bella, see you in a month, don't do anything a Gryffindor would!" After a few minutes Bella turned around and picked up the red stone tossing it into the air a few times her grin widening to terror inducing levels,

"I need to get those dire wolf cadavers they found in the tundra as soon as possible, this could be fun...thank you love...at least someone understands me..."

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><p>The quartet had arrived in Bulgaria without any real fanfare which both Sirius and Lilly were grateful for, letting Dora hit them all with translation charms the group bought a port key to a small village that had a name none of them had any hope of actually pronouncing. The girls dragged Sirius along as they entered the magical district grabbing this and thats, the Lord Black keeping his tongue due to rather enjoying not being hexed; say what you will about Sirius Black he knew what he'd been signing himself up for from the beginning. So when the group finally arrived before the branch of Gregorovitch Zauberstäbe Sirius was more than happy to let his goddaughter, her friend, and cousin rush ahead of him, Morgana be blessed at least he didn't have to hear about how they had to match their knickers with their stockings anymore, too many unwanted visuals.<p>

As the group entered the shop a dinging bell drew a large man with a bushy gray beard and long matching hair from the back rooms, his dark eyes assessed the group before settling on Lillith, he was staring at the package in her hands as his bushy eyebrows rose in question.

"Welcome to Gregorovitch Zauberstäbe, my name is Mykew Gregorovitch master wand crafter, how can I help you?" Lilly cleared her throat nervously before approaching the man,

"Greetings and good tidings sir, I'm Lillith Potter and I was informed by Lord Lucius Malfoy that you're willing to manufacture custom wands while leaving the ministries and-" her voice turned decidedly sour at the next part, "-Dumbledore in the dark when you create something truly unique." Now looking intrigued the older man nodded slowly,

"Yes I honestly have no loyalty to anyone who wishes to stymie my work for oblique reasons, namely the 'Greater Good,' Thor only knows what the hell that even means, I take it you have something to impress upon me?" Looking a bit more excited Lilly met both Dora and Sirius' eyes before responding,

"Indeed good sir, here are the materials I gathered," with that she placed the box she'd been holding on the counter and lifted its lid, looking down Mykew gasped as he looked down at the items in question before a deep bass chuckle escaped his lips.

"You do not do things by half measures do you young lady? Did you want it made in the ministry approved method or the way proper wands were made before the turn of the century?" Confused she was unintentionally cut off by Sally who asked,

"I'm sorry, what's the difference?" Turning to the girl before him he tilted his head a bit before responding,

"Before the 'Act Against Blood Magics' passed in 1897 all wands were custom made for their witch or wizard, once your materials were chosen the core was soaked in their lifes blood for a fortnight before being added to the wood base, once done a focusing crystal, stone, or other focei was placed in the handle bound by blood to the core. I learned how to replicate this procedure from...an heirloom I have long since lost, the end result is completely dependent on the witch in questions strength, and before you ask I can get away with making them due to our unshared nationalities." With that he rolled his eyes before continuing, "Wizards at large lack anything resembling common sense so that loophole will work better then anything." Lilly looked to Sirius who paused mulling his options, he knew that Gregorovitch was being truthful so he gave his blessing and nodded, Lilly grinned widely before turning to the gray haired man hopping in excitement on the balls of her feet.

"I want a proper wand, I want my partner to be as strong as possible," the wand crafter stared at her a moment before whispering to himself,

"You are a catalyst young lady, you will do terrible, yet great things..." voice raising to be heard by all he than smiled, "Very well than, I'll need a vial of your blood, the work should be done before the summer solstice," grinning like a mad woman Lilly handed her box of parts to the man along with a heap of galleons. He handed her a Gringott's supplied blood bowl, its very presence guaranteeing the blood she sacrificed was to only be used for the purposes she signed for, her respect for the wand crafter jumped at this added step, consummate professional indeed. Swearing as she pricked her finger with the offered knife Lilly bled into the bowl until Gregorovitch grunted and cast a charm on her finger sealing the wound, smirking Lilly curtsied lightly,

"Thank you for your time Master Crafter, may your days be long and filled with warmth," bowing in reply he smiled in return,

"And may your future be filled with fortune and peace young lady," the group left the building and thus began their month long city hopping rock tour, it honestly all seemed to pass in a blur, Lilly and Sally grew closer to Dora and the three girls made a game out of who could get Sirius into trouble with the various ladies he met and tried to woo the fastest. It felt like a bit of a cop out but really after the first week Lilly couldn't even remember most of the bands names, largely they covered classic rock songs or in the case of the Weird Sisters they _stole_ muggle songs and just rewrote a few lyrics to be magical. It wasn't until they arrived in Romania that things got interesting for the group, it ended up the last concert of their little tour neighbored the largest dragon preserve in the nation, grinning widely Lilly knew exactly what she wanted to do before they headed off to the states.

It honestly didn't take much pestering to get Sirius to agree to visit the Preserve, and Dora had needed no compulsion once she found out why Lilly was so excited to go; Charlie Weasely was currently working at said preserve and both the young woman and young girl had crushes on the stocky handsome dragon tamer. Lilly was chattering about this fact as they approached the Preserves main gates,

"I mean really, rugged good looks, light yet not disfiguring scarring, wild shoulder length hair, arms thick enough to punch out an irate dragon, he's..." Dora's eyes filmed a bit before she replied to her cousin,

"Yummy...oh so yummy..." both younger girls giggled at this as Sirius rolled his eyes before responding,

"As your godfather dear Lillith I expressly forbid you to even contemplate dating a man nearly a decade your senior, Marauder's prerogative and all that," Lilly blushed deeply at that while Sally chortled at her expense.

"I'm...blast it Sirius be serious for once! I'm not...GAH! I'm not interested in him like that, if you want to be concerned about someone be worried about dear Nymphadora here," With that her formally congenial cousins blue spiked hair shifted to the 'fires of hell red,'

"Do. Not. Call. Me. Nymphadora." Before the age old argument could take off the gates swung open and they were met by the man in question, grinning widely the mound of muscle known as Charles Weasley grinned in a manner reminiscent of the twins, immedietly putting Sally and Lillith on guard. He met all their eyes before focusing on Dora,

"Hello my friends! Welcome to the Romanian National Dragon Preserve, Nymphadora it's so good to see you again, and your arse is just as lovely as it was back at school, glad to know some things haven't changed!" Much to her groups shock Dora blushed and averted her eyes before replying,

"Great seeing you again Chuck, how have you been?" Before he could reply Lillith shouted,

"Whoa whoa whoa!" Pointing to Charlie she asked, "How the bloody hell did you," now pointing at Dora with her other hand she continued with, "get away with calling her by her full name without having a plague of locusts descend upon us?" Snickering as Dora blushed a bit deeper Charlie shook his head with a smirk gracing his lips,

"I won a bet, the stakes were high but the reward was _I_ get to be the only one who could ever call her Nymphadora and she had to accept that I would with no fuss, isn't that right Tonksie?" She mumbled something quietly as her hair shifted to a sallow yellow causing Charlie to laugh a bit more, Sally stared at him in awe before asking,

"What did you do to win that?" He had a dreamy look on his face as if remembering a wonderful memory,

"Ah yes, the broom closet on the second floor charms wing, you know to this day she insists she really isn't that flexi-" he was interrupted by Sirius who had grown a bit unsettled at the coming revelation.

"Oooookay enough of that, Charlie good to see you again, please, distract the women with dragons, please please please." Busting out into laughter he shook his head sending the shaggy red locks waving,

"Very well than, please follow me," the now very curious preteens, blushing woman, and exasperated Lord followed the Dragon wrangler up the beaten dirt path, as they crested the hill they all gasped as they saw fields of fire and giant winged reptiles snapping at each other. Grinning Charlie turned to the group, "Welcome to my home, now...any of you fancy riding a dragon?"


End file.
